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"OUE   CONTINENT"  LIBEAEY. 

There  Was  Once 

-      A  MAN. 

A  STORY. 


BY  R."  H.  NEWELL 

(ORPHEUS  C.  KERK.) 


.    .    .  The  Sacrilege 

Raised  up  his  head  astounded,  and  accurst 
The  stars,  the  destinies,  the  gods. 

Lander's  CHRYSAOR. 


NEW  YORK. 
FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

FOR 

OUR  CONTINENT  PUBLISHING  CO. 

1884 


COPYKIGHT,  A.  D.  1884, 
BY  OUK  CONTINENT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 


To 

THE  ONE,  TRIED  AND  PROVED, 
UNSELFISH  FRIEND 

OF 

MY  MATURER  YEARS  : 

WHOSE  NAME 

WILL  BE  WRITTEN  HEREUNDER  IN  THE 

COPY  OF  THIS  BOOK  RECEIVED 

BY  ITS  POSSESSOR, 


FROM  THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


THERE  WAS  ONCE   A  MAN. 


fO  rov  (3ifl\ov  SHdidovS  HOfAip&S  JJL    txyyapsv- 


Tor  rov  ffvverov  rvnoypacpeodS  spyov  arsv 

rov  spavrov  x£lP°YPa(Povy 
*  O  7roXvjuaO?)z  avayiyvcoGrriS  JJL    apeaei  npoG- 

rsjLK&v  rov  avrov 

Tov?   gerovS  XoyovS  KOLI  ra$  pijropiuaS  drj- 
ev  rco  fiip\<jp  ev 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PROLOGUE,       .        .        .        .        .        ...        7 

CHAPTER 

I.— THE  EFFINGHAMS,        .        .        .        .        .      25 

II. — LIEUTENANT  BELMORE  PAYS  HIS  RESPECTS,      34 

III.— A  CASE  IN  CHANCERY,         ....      45 

IV.— FRIEND,  OR  FOE  ?        .        .     '  .        .        .64 

V. — THE  THREADS  UNITE,  .....      72 

VL— "AND  SHE  Is  DEAD,"  .        .        .        .        .91 

VII. — LETTING  BYGONES  BE  BYGONES,          .        .    104 

VIII.— THE  CROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN,  .        .    120 

IX. — OSHONSEE  AT  HOME,      .  .  .  .  .      136 

X.— DOCTOR  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE,  .    148 

XI. — UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE,          .        .        .    166 

XII.— THE  PIC-NIC  AT  THE  FORT,         .        .        .184 

XIII.— WHAT  HAPPENED  IN  AUGUST,    .        .        .211 

XIV. — A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE,     ....    226 

XV.— AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE,  .        .        .        .247 

XVI. — COLONEL  DARYL'S  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE,      .    275 

XVII. — CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER,    .        .        .    291 

XVIII.— EDWIN'S  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW,    .        .        .313 

XIX. — THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT  NOT  COUNTED 

UPON, 333 

XX. — A  MISSING  LINK  is  SUPPLIED,     .        .        .    349 
XXI. — MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER,    ....    363 
vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXII.— IT  is  HARD  FOB  A  MAN  WHOLLY  TO  DIS 
APPEAR,  f.        .380 

XXIIL— A  SIGNET-RING  RETURNED,      .       '.        .    401 

XXIV.— UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE,      .    413 

XXV. — THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET,     .        .    436 

XXVI.— NIGHT'S  BRINGING  FORTH,       .       .       .462 

XXVII.— FORBEARANCE  IN  THE  DIGNITY  OF  MIGHT,    481 

XXVIII.— BETWEEN  TWO  "WORLDS,  ....    490 

XXIX.— SHE  TELLS  ALL,        .        .  .      .       .        .    605 

EPILOGUE,        .........    513 

AUTHOR'S  NOTE,   ........    523 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

HE  WAS  RAISED  UP   BY   THE  DOCTOR  AND  THE 

LAWYER,  AND  HE  SIGNED,  .  .  (Frontispiece) 

AFTERNOON  WALKS  ON  THE  BATTERY,  ...  8 

MRS.  DORNTON'S  ARRIVAL,  .  .  .  .  .  9 
"  WITH  A  SOOTHING  HAND  ON  HER  KINSWOMAN'S 

NEAREST  SHOULDER,"  .  .  .  .  .10 

ON  THE  PORTICO, 17 

"  WILLIAM  DARYL  SPRANG  TO  His  FEET  AND  TOOK 

AN  IMPULSIVE  STEP  FORWARD,"  ...  22 
"  CAN'T  You  COME  UP  LONG  ENOUGH  TO  RECEIVE 

OUR  THANKS?"    .        .        .        .        .        .        .  30 

THE  CALLER  STOOD  BOWING  IN  THE  DOORWAY,  .  41 

"WHAT  SHOULD  You  SAY  TO  NUTMEGS  Now?"  .  51 
THE  CURIOUS  OMNIUM  GATHERUM  OF  THE  CHINESE 

BAZAR, 53 

"  I  HAVE  NOTHING,  NOTHING  TO  FORGIVE— EXCEPT 

THAT  SHE  DID  NOT  LIVE,"  .  .  .  115 

"TUAN  BESAR  Is  NOT  ALONE,"  ....  130 

"  O-SHON-SEE  !  O-SHON-SEE  !"  CROAKED  THE  IN 
FURIATED  CREATURE,  RAINING  BLOWS  WITH 
IRRESISTIBLE  RAPIDITY  UPON  THE  RETREATING 
MAN, 140 

THE  ADMIRAL,  THE  RAJAH,  AND  THE  HANDSOME 
YOUNG  MALAY  PRINCE  STOOD  TOGETHER  ON 
THE  QUARTER  DECK,  .  .  .  .  .  .214 

"  LORD  FORGIVE  ME  !"  CAME  FROM  THE  WHITENED 

LIPS  OF  THE  NATURALIST,  ....  236 

"TUAN  BESAR  SHALL  HEAR  THE  STORY  AS  IT  HAS 

BEEN  TOLD  ME," 352 

HER  MOTHER  FOUND  HER  ABSORBED  IN  COLORING 

THE  STORMY  SKY  OF  A  LANDSCAPE,  .  .  .370 


THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 


PROLOGUE. 
I 

IT  was  nearly  sixty  years  ago.  The  interval  of  three 
score  years  between  then  and  now  would  be  but  insig 
nificant  as  a  paragraph  in  the  history  of  any  Old  World 
metropolis  ;  but  in  the  marvelous  record  of  New  York 
— the  predestined  Millionopolis  of  Christendom — it  has 
been  a  period  of  bamboo-like  urban  growth  to  amaze 
even  those  yet  living  witnesses  whose  memories  can 
recall  its  every  progressive  phase.  Only  of  late  had  the 
town  been  surveyed  and  laid  out  beyond  Houston  Street, 
and  scarcely  ten  years  had  elapsed  since  a  ghastly  pro 
cession  of  sheriff,  bishop,  hangman's  cart,  civic  soldiery 
and  constabulary  piloted  a  ribald  mob  from  the  Bride 
well  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  to  an  open  field  immediately 
below  that  street's  intersection  of  the  city's  chief  high 
way,  to  the  public  execution  of  three  wretches  made 
thus  to  expiate  the  crime  of  firing  a  church. 

The  root,  the  heart,  the  epitome  of  that  beloved  New 
York  of  the  Knickerbockers  was  Broadway,  from  the 
wave-washed,  umbrageous  Battery  to  a  few  blocks  north 
of  Warren  Street ;  and  along  its  primitively-paved,  tree- 
shaded  mile  and  a  half  such  retailing  shops  as  were 
highest  in  fashionable  favor  made  their  ambitious  dis 
plays,  at  decent  intervals,  between  the  dignified  brick 
mansions  of  the  wealthy  and  exclusive  social  class.  In 
the  limited  or  select  lower  district,  fronting  the  historic 
Bowling  Green,  were  what  contemporaneous  judgment 
7 


8  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

deemed  the  sumptuous  homes  of  the  Grades,  the  Ellises, 
and  their  like.  Farther  up  the  sunny,  bustling  prome 
nade,  the  silver  plates  on  doors  bore  such  names  as 
Livingston,  Wilkes,  Grinnell,  Minturn,  Clarkson,  Leroy, 
Harmony,  Yan  Horn,  Hicks,  Costar,  Morton,  and  others 
as  well  known  to  choice  local  society  ;  while  over  toward 
the  East  River,  across  irregular  patches  of  low  wooden 
houses  and  marshy  fields,  could  be  seen  the  upper  sto 
ries  and  chimney-stacks  of  the  stately  seats  of  the 
Rutgers,  Willetts  and  Stuyvesants.  Going  "into  the 
country"  above  Lispenard  Street,  the  stroller,  or  eques 
trian  of  the  period,  saw,  on  his  left  hand,  westerly,  the 
patrimonial  meadows  of  that  name,  extending  to  the 
present  Spring  and  Sullivan  Streets  ;  farther  yet  to  the 
left,  on  verdant  heights  near  the  Hudson,  stood  the  im 
posing  mansions  of  the  Glovers  and  the  Varicks  ;  and 
on  storied  Richmond  Hill,  in  the  vicinity  of  now  shabby 
Charlton  Street,  appeared  the  "grand"  house  succes 
sively  famous  as  the  abode  of  Washington,  of  the  pom 
pous  British  consul  Buchanan,  and  ultimately  of  the 
brilliant  and  misguided  Aaron  Burr. 

The  Broadway  of  sixty  years  ago  was  scarcely  more 
than  a  brisk  and  sanguine  promise  of  the  future  supreme 
metropolitan  highway  of  the  Continent— the  triumphal 
path  of  presidents,  princes,  heroic  guests  of  the  state, 
and  the  nation's  mightiest  commercial  potentates  ;  yet, 
in  its  swiftly  multiplying  mercantile  edifices,  pretentious 
private  buildings,  tree-arched  vistas,  of  moving  throngs 
and  streaming  vehicles,  gay  groups  of  loitering  prome- 
naders  and  thunderous  symphony  of  traffic,  there  stirred 
incipient  potentialities  of  the  combined  Regent  Street, 
Chausse"ed'Antinand  straightened  Lastenstrasse  it  was 
destined  to  become  in  another  half  century.  As  a  cha 
racteristic  Concentration  of  what  was  brightest  and 
freshest  and  most  imposing  in  the  Kew  York  of  the 


PROLOGUE.  9 

Knickerbockers,  it  was  loved  and  gloried  in  by  its  resi 
dents  and  frequenters  as  no  later  generation  of  the  far 
vaster  city  is  ever  likely  to  show  fondness  and  pride 
over  newer  and  more  sumptuous  avenues.  To  live  upon 
it,  in  the  full  tide  of  its  rush  and  gayety,  was  to  be  re 
cognized,  without  challenge,  as  of  the  most  affluent 
respectability ;  while  a  residence  upon  any  one  of  the 
several  quieter  streets  intersecting  it  to  the  westward, 
yet  near  enough  to  share  its  costliness,  was,  perhaps 
(like  owning  "seats"  in  view  on  either  river-side),  an 
even  subtler  implication  of  social  distinction. 

And-  it  was  in  those  comparatively  primitive  days, 
early  in  the  long  twilight  of  an  evening  in  June,  that 
one  of  the  quieter  connecting  streets  in  question,  known 
as  Park  Place  and  extending  from  Broadway,  at  the 
City  Hall  Park,  toward  the  Hudson,  was  invaded  from 
the  adjacent  great  thoroughfare  by  a  carriage,  driven 
so  rapidly  as  to  attract  the  immediate  curious  atten 
tion  of  everybody  within  sight  and  hearing  of  it.  The 
warmth  of  the  idling  hour  had  tempted  a  number  of 
family  groups  to  the  iron-railed  stoops  and  balconies  of 
houses  on  either  side  of  the  way,  while  bands  of  playing 
children  gave  parting  life  to  the  slowly  shading  side 
walks  ;  and  these  all  became  interested  spectators  of  the 
hurried  incursion  of  the  vehicle,  its  sharp  halt  before  a 
mansion  about  midway  down  the  block,  and  the  almost 
as  summary  alighting  of  a  lady  who,  by  her  figure  and 
dress,  seemed  to  be  past  middle  age.  Before  the  various 
neighboring  beholders  had  much  chance  to  speculate,  so 
far  as  their  breeding  would  allow,  upon  the  identity  of 
the  visitor  arriving  thus  hastily,  or  her  purpose  in  so 
doing,  the  door  of  the  Yon  Gilder  residence  had  ad 
mitted  her,  and  a  servant  had  reopened  it  in  the  next 
instant  to  wave  and  signal  some  apparently  pre-under- 
stood  order  to  the  coachman.  As  the  latter  drove 


10  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

slowly  away  close  to  the  curb,  obviously  sent  to  the 
family  stable  around  the  next  corner,  it  could  be  seen 
that  horses,  carriage  and  liveried  driver  alike  were  gray 
with  the  dust  of  suburban  roads.  Hence,  neighborly 
curiosity  had  this  only  to  discern  for  the  time  being- — 
that  both  lady  and  carriage,  although  by  no  means  rustic 
in  general  aspects,  must  have  come  from  somewhere 
outside  of  the  city. 

Within  the  house  thus  problematically  emphasized  to 
exterior  observation  the  guest  had  been  promptly  ush 
ered  up  a  sumptuously  carpeted  stairway  to  a  boudoir 
on  the  second  floor,  at  the  entrance  of  which  stood 
another  lady  of  about  the  same  age,  who,  without  a 
word,  seized  her  outstretched  hand  and  led  her  into  the 
room.  In  fact,  the  whole  reception,  so  far,  gave  every 
indication  of  a  previously  exact  appointment ;  as,  in 
deed,  had  been  the  case.  The  two  ladies  kissed  in 
silence,  holding  yet  each  other's  hand,  and  then  she  of 
the  mansion  spoke  : 

"  I  'm  so  glad  you  have  come,  Louisa  !" 

"  I  should  have  been  a  queer  mother  if  I  had  not !" 
responded  the  other,  with  some  asperity  of  tone — and 
quickly  added  :  "  "Where  is  Caroline  ?" 

Mrs.  Yon  Gilder — for  such  she  was — induced  the  visi 
tor  to  sit  beside  her  on  a  sofa  near  a  cheerfully-curtained 
window  before  answering  this  pointed  question,  and 
spoke  again  with  a  soothing  hand  on  her  kinswoman's 
nearer  shoulder  and  a  look  of  affectionate  entreaty : 

"Louisa  Dornton,  you  must  not  be  too  severe  with 
the  poor  girl  in  this  affair.  Being  sure  that  you  would 
come  immediately  upon  my  message,  I  told  James  to 
bring  you  up  here  on  the  instant  of  your  arrival,  that  I 
might  see  you  at  once.  Perhaps  there  was  no  real  need 
of  sending  for  you  at  all.  But  I  felt  a  responsibility. 
£Tow,  do  not  be  severe." 


PROLOGUE.  11 

Mrs.  Dornton — who  was,  perhaps,  a  matron  of  five- 
and-forty  years,  with  silver-streaked  dark  hair  in  ma 
tronly  curls  of  graduated  precision  on  either  side  of  her 
decided  forehead,  with  grayish-blue  eyes,  nose  and  chin 
indicative  of  some  pride,  and  a  mouth  too  reserved 
of  outline  to  promise  much  emotional  flexibility — looked 
back  with  a  cold  smile  into  the  gentle  eyes  fixed  upon 
her.  The  two  women  were  a  harmonious  contrast.  In 
the  large  black  bonnet  and  sombre  traveling-wrap,  not 
yet  removed,  the  abrupt  guest  had  a  purposeful  and,  as 
it  were,  retributive  aspect ;  while  in  the  whole  air  of 
her  companion,  pale  of  face,  delicate  of  feature,  wearing 
a  triangular  dressing  of  lace  upon  her  plainly  gathered 
hair,  and  a  thin,  neutral-tinted  robe  upon  her  tall  and 
slender  figure,  there  was  a  suggestion  of  that  intelligent 
tenderness  of  mercy  which  mates  most  gracefully  with 
justice. 

"Severe?"  echoed  Mrs.  Dornton.  "Edith,  have  I 
ever  been  anything  but  too  indulgent  to  Caroline  ?  Since 
her  sister's  marriage,  the  child  has  been  simply  spoiled 
by  our  indulgence.  Mr.  Dornton  and  I  have  been 
foolish.  And  now  she  is  repaying  us.  But  where  is 
the  ungrateful  girl  ?" 

"I  did  not  mean  to  reproach  you,  Louisa.  I  know 
that  you  are  a  good  mother.  Only,  you  should  not 
judge  her  too  harshly.  Kemember  her  youth  and  inex 
perience.  She  is  in  bed  now,  half  sick." 

"  Sick !"  exclaimed  the  mother,  with  a  change  of 
countenance,  and  starting  to  leave  her  seat. 

"You  need  not  be  alarmed.  Only  a  bad  headache," 
continued  Mrs.  Yon  Gilder,  restraining  her  by  a  ges 
ture.  "  This  morning  I  told  her,  privately,  and  as  re 
assuringly  as  I  could,  that  you  were  coming  here  to-day 
by  my  invitation ;  but  she  became  excited,  and  now  she 
is  as  I  tell  you." 


12  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  Then  she  is  afraid  to  see  me,  Edith,  depend  on  that. 
Afraid  to  see  her  mother  !  I  must  go  to  her  at  once." 
And  again  the  speaker  was  in  the  act  of  leaving  the 
sofa. 

"  No  !  Hear  me  !"  rejoined  her  companion  quickly. 
"You  must  not  see  her  until  I  have  told  you  all  I  know. 
Now  do  reflect,  Louisa,  that  the  whole  matter  may  not 
really  amount  to  anything  at  all.  She  is  such  an  un 
worldly,  innocent  young  creature  that  when  I  saw  them 
so  often  together,  and  seeming  to  like  each  other  so 
well,  I  thought  her  parents  ought  at  least  to  know  about 
it.  I  hated  to  speak  to  her  on  the  subject ;  for  the  very 
childlike  innocence  of  her  look  would  make  one  feel 
contemptible  in  approaching  her  on  such  a  subject.  I 
did  speak  to  Mr.  Yon  Gilder,  and  he  only  laughed,  and 
asked  if  I  would  find  fault  with  a  blossom  for  attracting 
a  butterfly  ?  He  says  he  is  sure  that  you  and  I  flirted 
a  great  deal  worse  when  we  were  girls." 

Mrs.  Dornton  drew  herself  up  rather  grandly  at  this, 
"lam  under  obligations  to  your  husband,  Edith,  for 
his  estimation  of  my  youthful  dignity  of  character.  Do 
you  mean  to  say  that  a  daughter  of  mine,  a  guest  in  the 
house  of  her  mother's  cousin,  has  been  so  forgetful  of 
herself  as  to  carry  on  a  vulgar  flirtation  ?" 

" How  harsh  your  words  are!"  retorted  her  cousin 
deprecatingly.  "Do  you  want  to  make  me  wish  that  I 
had  not  sent  for  you,  Louisa  ?  I  would  answer  for  it 
with  my  life  that  Caroline  would  do  nothing  unladylike 
or  wrong." 

"  She  shall  assure  me  of  that  with  her  own  lips,  and 
at  once,"  was  the  mother's  grim  interjection.  "Home 
she  shall  go  with  me  to-morrow  morning." 

"Yes;  but  hear  me  first.  I'll  tell  you  the  whole 
story.  After  she  had  been  visiting  with  us  over  a  month, 
and  seemed  to  be  growing  really  stronger,  she  went 


PROLOGVE.  13 

with  our  Ada  and  myself  to  a  party  at  the  Lawrences', 
over  by  St.  John's  Park,  and  there  saw  Lieutenant 
Daryl.  She  told  me  that  she  had  met  him  before  at 
Dornton  Manor ;  and  they  danced  together,  and  then 
he  called  here  to  see  her.  As  he  seemed  to  be  perfectly 
a  gentleman,  and  she  had  known  him  in  her  own  home, 
I  could  not  very  well  object.  He  invited  Ada  and  her 
to  the  theatre,  with  myself  as  joint-guardian.  From 
that  it  went  to  afternoon  walks  to  the  Battery,  and  then 
drives  up  as  far  as  the  arsenal  and  back.  Ada  has  been 
their  companion  to  within  the  past  week,  and  it  was,  at 
last,  her  indisposition  to  'spoil  company'  any  longer,  as 
my  girl  called  it,  that  occasioned  my  anxiety.  On  the 
day  before  yesterday  the  Englishman  and  Caroline  were 
out  walking  several  hours  in  the  afternoon,  and  Ada  did 
not  know  where  they  were.  Upon  Caroline's  return, 
and  while  we  were  at  dinner,  I  asked  her  with  compara 
tive  seriousness,  if  she  thought  you  would  be  willing 
that  she  should  see  so  much  of  the  young  gentleman  ? 
Instead  of  answering  somewhat  pertly,  in  the  girlish 
style,  as  I  had  half  expected,  she  blushed,  her  eyes  filled 
with  tears,  and  she  hurried  sobbing  from  the  room.  I 
felt  dreadfully,  and  Mr.  Yon  Gilder  said,  '  There,  now, 
you  've  broken  the  child's  heart !'  Ada  thought  her  a 
baby  ;  you  know  how  thoughtless  Ada  is.  And,  upon 
the  whole,  Louisa,  I  thought  I  might  better  write  to 
you." 

"Not  a  moment  too  soon,  Edith,"  said  her  cousin, 
rising  to  her  feet.  Her  eyes  had  kindled  with  a  clear 
fire  as  the  story  ended,  and  her  look  was  one  of  conclu 
sive  decision.  "I'll  go  up  and  see  her  now.  -  You  '11 
excuse  me  to  Mr.  Yon  Gilder  and  Ada  if  I  do  not  see 
them,  nor  you,  again  to-night.  I  should  be  poor  com 
pany  at  present.  Please  to  see  that  my  carriage  is  or 
dered  at  nine  in  the  morning." 


14  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Mrs.  Yon  Gilder's  delicate  face  wore  an  anxious  and 
pained  expression,  but  she  attempted  no  useless  opposi 
tion.  Her  suggestion  that  the  visitor  should  at  least 
lay  aside  bonnet  and  wrapper,  and  take  a  cup  of  tea 
before  the  impending  interview,  was,  not  ungratefully, 
rejected ;  and  then  the  aggrieved  mother,  requesting 
that  she  should  not  be  attended,  went  up  alone  to  a 
bedchamber  she  had  often  occupied  herself,  in  hospi 
table  days  past,  there  to  arraign  and  assume  custody 
over  the  daughter  who  had  offended  her. 

The  scene  ensuing  between  parent  and  child  was 
kept  sacred  from  all  other  eyes  and  ears  than  their 
own ;  and  on  the  following  morning,  when  the  former 
appeared  at  the  family  breakfast-table,  her  fully-re 
gained  customary  equipoise  of  manner  gave  no  definite 
clew  to  conjecture  on  the  subject.  "  Caroline  will  take 
a  little  breakfast  in  her  room,  if  you  please,  Edith,  be 
fore  we  go.  Her  head  is  not  right  yet,"  was  her  inci 
dental  remark  after  the  naturally  subdued  greetings  of 
Mr.  Yon  Gilder,  his  wife  and  daughter.  In  no  circum 
stances  was  she  a  woman  to  bring  private  tremors  into 
even  the  most  intimate  general  company.  With  the 
head  of  the  family,  who  was  a  florid,  gray-haired,  rather 
portly  merchant,  largely  in  the  East  India  trade,  she 
discussed  the  recent  introduction  of  gas  in  the  city  and 
the  rapidly  approaching  completion  of  the  great  Erie 
Canal.  With  her  cousin  she  exchanged  notes  regarding 
the  Ediriburg  Review,  and  its  editor,  whom  they  had  both 
known  a  dozen  years  before,  when  he  came  to  New 
York  to  marry  Miss  Wilkes,  and  whose  later  promotion 
to  the  lord  rectorship  of  the  University  of  Glasgow 
was  yet  a  matter  of  congratulatory  remark  among  his 
American  friends.  With  Miss  Yon  Gilder,  a  fragile, 
lively  and  pretty  image  of  her  father's  fairest  youth,  she 
debated  the  possibility  of  a  renewal  of  the  yellow  fever 


PROLOGUE.  15 

scourge  after  it  had  skipped  one  year,  and  joined  in  the 
hope  that  none  of  them  would  ever  see  in  their  lives 
again  a  fence  across  Broadway  to  define  the  infected 
region.  Only  when  the  carriage  was  at  the  door,  and  a 
slight,  girlish  figure,  closely  veiled  and  draped,  came 
down  the  staircase  with  the  sympathetic  Ada,  and  hur 
ried  out  to  the  vehicle  with  barely  one  convulsive  sob 
of  adieu,  did  Mrs.  Von  Gilder  notice,  in  the  peculiar 
tension  of  her  cousin's  mouth,  the  first  sign  that  the 
story  of  the  night  might  not  have  ended  in  exact  conso 
nance  with  that  lady's  imperious  will. 

Seating  herself  opposite  to  the  fair  culprit,  who  had 
crowded  desolately  into  the  loneliest  corner  of  her 
wheeled  prison  and  sat  there  without  speech  or  motion, 
the  mother  waved  a  farewell  to  the  group  at  the  door, 
and  preserved  as  unsocial  a  demeanor  while  the  horses 
started  on  their  way.  Silent  yet  both  remained,  in  the 
drive  taking  them  up  Broadway  beyond  the  pavements, 
and  then  onward  to  its  northern  limit  above  the  old 
City  Arsenal  grounds,  where,  turning  to  the  eastward, 
the  hoofs  clicked  on  the  gritty  surface  of  the  Harlem 
turnpike.  Then  the  older  rider  spoke,  as  though  come 
to  a  sharp  turn  in  her  thoughts  also. 

"Caroline,  if  you  don't  wish  me  to  think  something 
worse  of  you  than  you  have  confessed,  stop  this  crying 
and  try  to  go  home  with  a  manner  more  becoming 
to  your  father's  daughter.  I  sent  for  your  sister  to 
come  up  to  Dornton  Manor,  and  she  will  be  there  to 
meet  us." 

With  a  quick,  impulsive  gesture  the  veiled  recusant 
suddenly  leaned  toward  her  mother,  so  as  to  grasp  an 
unguarded  hand,  and  exclaimed,  in  a  choked,  tremu 
lous  voice : 

"  Oh,  ma !  why  can't  you  trust  me  as  you  do  Julia  ? 
Why  have  you  come  to  carry  me  home  in  this  way,  as 


16  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

though  I  had  done  something  so  awful?  What  will 
Cousin  Edith  think  ?  and  Ada  ?  and  Mr.  Daryl—" 

"Don't  dare  to  name  that  man  to  me  again,  willful 
child  I"  interrupted  Mrs.  Dornton,  peremptorily,  though 
not  withdrawing  her  hand.  "  (Let  me  close  this  cur 
tain  if  we  are  not  to  be  a  spectacle  for  the  roadside. ) 
Your  sister  Julia  honored  and  obeyed  her  parents  in  all 
things.  She  was  a  dutiful  daughter  and  is  a  decorous 
wife.  She  never  had  half  of  the  indulgence  your  father 
and  myself  have  shown  to  you ;  but  if  she  had  been 
allowed,  like  you,  to  visit  three  months  away  from 
home,  it  would  not  have  been  her  mother's  humiliation 
to  force  her  back,  like  this,  a  recreant  to  filial  duty, 
maidenly  modesty — " 

"  You  must  not  speak  in  that  way  to  me,  ma  !"  inter 
rupted  Caroline  in  her  turn,  her  girlish  tones  growing 
shriller  with  quickened  breathing.  "I  have  done 
nothing  to  deserve  it.  Mr.  Daryl — I  will  mention  his 
name — is  a  gentleman.  What  will  he  think  ?  You  and 
pa  never  said  a  word  against  him  at  Dornton.  You  told 
me  yourself  that  his  grandmother  was  born  there  and 
his  family  respectable." 

Mrs.  Dornton  now  withdrew  her  hand  from  the  trem 
bling  clasp  of  the  excited  girl,  and  shook  a  finger  at  her, 
as  she  shrank  before  it,  with  a  deliberation  of  manner 
the  more  passionately  effective  for  seeming  to  be  dispas 
sionate. 

41 1  cannot  talk  farther  with  you,  my  dear,"  she  said, 
"  until  you  have  recalled  some  sense  of  the  respect  due 
to  me.  But  this  you  may  depend  upon  implicitly :  il 
this  adventurous  foreigner — " 

"Mother!" 

"  I  say,  if  this  unprincipled  fortune-hunter,  who  has 
basely  allowed  a  silly,  wayward  girl  like  you  to  com 
promise — " 


rm 


PROLOGUE.  17 

Before  the  sentence  could  be  completed  the  daughter 
had  flung  herself  upon  her  knees  in  the  carriage,  crying 
hysterically,  as  she  buried  her  face  in  her  parent's  lap  : 

"Mother! — we  are  married  I" 


n 

ON  the  portico  of  the  little  white  "hotel"  of  the 
miniature  village  of  Dornton  stood  two  men,  the  one, 
with  an  advancing  foot  already  down  the  first  step  of 
the  short  flight  to  the  roadway,  seeming  to  be  taking 
leave  of  the  other.  The  younger  and  taller  had  a  pe 
culiarly  upright  carriage,  brown  hair  with  a  rather 
military  cut,  frank  blue  eyes  and  the  complexion  of 
a  wholesome  school-boy.  His  companion  was  rather 
stouter,  wore  glasses,  and  his  crisp  black  locks  and  long, 
flushed  face  were  more  pronouncedly  foreign  in  effect. 
Both  wore  straw  hats,  waistcoats  and  trousers  of  light 
fabric  and  loose  coats  of  thin  black  cloth.  In  the  shade  of 
two  luxuriant  horse-chestnuts,  linked  by  a  whitewashed 
tethering-bar,  before  the  doorway  of  the  modest  inn, 
stood  the  time-worn  barouche  long  serving  as  the  whole 
livery  of  the  house,  and  toward  it  was  descending  the 
leave-taking  younger  gentleman. 

"  No,  Larry."  he  was  saying,  with  some  signs  of  im 
patience,  "you  must  stay  here,  my  dear  fellow,  and 
allow  me  to  go  alone.  They  must  not  think  that  I  come 
like  a  green-bag-lawyer  fellow,  with  a  witness." 

"  But  I  tell  you,  Will,  my  boy,  this  may  be  a  case  of 
law  for  you  sooner  than  you  think,"  persisted  his  friend 
energetically,  keeping  yet  a  detaining  hand  on  his  nearer 
arm.  "  A  witness  may  be  precisely  what  you  want." 

"We  've  already  talked  that  all  over,  and  you  know 


18  THERE  WAS  ONGE  A  MAN. 

my  feelings  about  it,"  was  the  hurried  answer.  "I 
must  go  alone.  If  I  am  not  back  here  in  an  hour,  take 
this  old  rattle-trap — which  I  shall  send  back — and  be 
driven  to  the  landing.  If  I  am  not  there,  go  down  by 
the  boat  and  I  '11  rejoin  you  in  the  city  later  on." 

"Ah,  my  poor  boy,  you've  misgivings,  then,"  re 
turned  Larry,  shaking  his  head,  but  no  longer  striving 
to  detain  the  obstinate  young  man.     "However,  as  I 
came  here  only  to  serve  you,  I  '11  do  as  you  say." 
His  friend  shook  him  cordially  by  both  hands. 
"  That 's  like  the  good,  grumpy,  kind  old  boy  you 
always  are,  God  bless  you  !"  he  said  feelingly.     "Now 
I  am  off." 

As  he  sprang  into  the  shabby  barouche  and  rode 
away,  the  gentleman  left  upon  the  portico  shook  his 
head  again,  and  looked  out  after  him  in  the  fervent 
summer  sunlight  with  a  troubled  glance. 

The  noise  that  coast-beating  surges  alone  can  make 
was  already  in  the  rider's  ears  before  he  had  been  five 
minutes  upon  his  short  drive,  and  it  became  rapidly 
more  distinct  as  the  rustic  hackman  guided  his  sorry 
team  from  the  main  highway  into  a  road  ascending  a 
gradual  eminence  under  a  noble  archway  of  trees. 

Faced  by  grounds  enclosed  within  a  coped  and  shapely 
brick  wall,  entrance  through  which  was  by  an  iron  gate 
in  globe-capped  stone  pillars,  stood  the  substantial,  old- 
fashioned  homestead  of  Dornton  Manor.  Cresting  a 
verdant  mound,  or  knoll,  within  a  short  distance  of 
Long  Island  Sound,  its  generous,  well-kept  garden  in 
front  and  at  the  sides,  and  lawn,  dotted  with  fine  old 
trees,  sloping  to  the  water  at  the  back,  the  sturdy  stone 
mansion  at  once  asserted  to  the  beholder  its  _  rank 
among  the  oldest  and  most  distinguished  homes  of  the 
country.  Our  young  traveler  knew  it  by  some  past  so 
cial  experience  ;  but,  alas  !  none  of  them  had  been  of  a 


PROLOGUE.  19 

character  affording  any  gauge  for  the  welcome  he  might 
now  be  approaching.  He  was  aware  that  something  of 
a  previous  evening's  extraordinary  perturbation  at  the 
manor  house  had  become  vaguely  known  to  village  gos 
sip.  At  the  inn  he  had  heard  significant  hints  about  a 
recent  hurried  bringing  home  of  Miss  Dornton,  by  her 
mother,  from  the  city,  and  could  perceive  that  his  ar 
rival  with  his  friend  attracted  a  style  of  attention  indi 
cating,  at  least,  a  suspicion  of  his  special  interestedness 
in  that  unusual  event.  To  his  overwrought  senses  the 
very  atmosphere  of  the  place  teemed  with  something 
mixed  of  dismay  and  reproach  for  him,  and  to  his  in 
creasing  discomposure,  as  he  walked  up  the  broad  stone 
steps  of  the  house  to  the  pillared  porch,  a  sudden  shame 
faced  impression  of  audacity  in  his  mission  greatly  dis 
ordered  the  courage  hitherto  emboldening  him.  Had 
he  really  done  a  wrong  to  any  one  ?  Should  his  bearing 
be,  properly,  that  of  a  consciously  offending  suppliant, 
rather  than  the  confident  dignity  of  a  man  who  had 
come  to  assert  a  legitimate,  manful  right  ? 

"Well,  Mr.  Daryl,  of  course  we  have  expected  this 
visit  from  you,"  was  Mrs.  Dornton's  greeting,  as  she 
acknowledged  his  constrained  bow,  and  then  quietly 
took  a  chair  near  the  open  doorway  by  which  she  had 
slowly  entered  the  reception-room.  Venetian  blinds, 
drawn  down  to  intercept  the  glowing  sunbeams,  made  a 
cool  twilight  for  the  two  figures,  but  in  the  broadest  day 
the  lady's  countenance  would  have  revealed  no  agita 
tion.  A  slightly  worn  expression,  perhaps,  and  some 
twitching  at  the  corners  of  the  lips,  were  the  scarcely 
perceptible  changes  from  her  ordinary  gracious  aspect 
for  any  acceptable  morning  caller. 

"  May  I  be  allowed  to  hope,  then,  madame,  that  I  am 
not  unwelcome  ?"  asked  William  Daryl,  taking  momen 
tary  refuge  in  a  commonplace  formality. 


20  THERE  WAS  ONGE  A  MAN. 

"I  wish  that  I  could  answer  you  truthfully,  sir,  in 
the  affirmative." 

This  opened  the  battle. 

"Mrs.  Dornton,  how  is  my  Caroline ?"  broke  forth 
the  boyish  young  soldier,  leaning  eagerly  toward  her, 
his  hands  clasped  upon  his  knees,  and  all  his  fears  and 
constraint  forgotten.  "  Deal  considerately  with  us,  dear 
madame,  even  if  we  seem  to  you  to  have  acted  like  chil 
dren.  For  I  do  love  her  so  !"  he  added  in  an  ingenuous 
abandonment  to  youthful  passion. 

"Before  you  go  any  farther,  Mr.  Daryl,"  said  the 
matron,  showing  no  emotion  whatever,  "you  should  be 
warned  that  I  have  consented  to  receive  you  this  morn 
ing,  solely  and  purposely  for  your  information  that  Miss 
Dornton  wishes  never  to  lay  eyes  on  you  in  this  world 
again." 

"I'll  never  believe  that!"  he  ejaculated,  springing 
half-way  from  his  chair,  as  though  under  an  electric 
shock— "At  least— forgive  me,  please— I 'm  sure  you 
must  mistake  her  feelings.  You  are  a  good  woman — a 
mother — and  will  surely  pardon  me  for  my  own  dear 
mother 's  sake." 

"  The  circumstances  make  you  pardonable,  sir,  as  far 
as  mere  words  go." 

"  And  for  my  acts,  too,  I  hope,  Mrs.  Dornton.  You 
can't  imagine  how  dearly  I  love  Caroline — nobody  can  ! 
When  I  found  that  the  time  was  near  at  hand  when  she 
must  leave  that  kind  Mrs.  Von  Gilder's,  and  realized 
how  fond  we  were  of  each  other,  and  thought  how,  pos 
sibly,  a  thousand  things  might  come  between  us,  I  just 
lost  my  head.  Yes,  dear  madame,  I  '11  confess  it  frankly, 
I  did  lose  my  head.  And  then  I  begged  and  raved  and 
persuaded  ;  and  at  last  the  dear  girl  went  with  me  to  the 
rectory  that  afternoon,  and — and — we  were  married!" 

But  for  the  words  these  two  were  uttering,  and  the 


PROLOGUE.  21 

narticulate  sobbing  of  the  waters  heard  through  open 
:asements,  no  sound  seemed  to  be  in  all  the  great  house, 
[t  was  as  though  a  desolate,  inhospitable  emptiness 
aintly  echoed  back  the  young  Englishman's  voice,  even 
n  its  softest  tones,  and  struck  a  chill  to  his  every  real 
lope.  The  mother  of  Caroline  received  what  he  had 
ast  said  without  immediate  remark,  but  pulled  a  bell- 
-ope  near  at  hand.  To  the  trim  young  woman  coming 
loiselessly  down  the  polished  staircase  of  the  adjoining 
mil  to  answer  the  summons,  she  said  : 

"  Tell  your  mistress  that  we  are  ready  for  her." 

Daryl  flushed  fiery  red  and  then  turned  white  at  these 
signs.  As  the  maid  disappeared,  Mrs.  Dornton  turned 
tier  keen  eyes  upon  him  again. 

"  Young  man,  I  knew  your  grandmother  in  Dornton, 
in  her  girlhood,  and  until  your  grandfather  married  her 
ind  carried  her  back  with  him  to  England.  I  am  sorry 
for  you.  Probably  my  daughter's  giddiness  and  sim 
plicity  have  been  as  much  to  blame  in  this  mad  affair  as 
your  own  dreadful  rashness  was.  But  if  you  must  suffer, 
she,  also,  must  pay  a  bitter  penalty,  and  we — her  father 
and  myself— have  to  share  it.  I  would  sooner  have  seen 
her  dead,  William  Daryl,  than  see  her  as  she  is— scarcely 
more  than  a  child  and,  in  effect,  a  widow." 

"A  widow  !"  repeated  the  young  man,  unnerved  by 
the  ambiguity  of  such  a  term  at  such  a  time. 

"Yes,  practically  that.  This  marriage  shall  be  an 
nulled,  if  there  is  any  moral  justice  in  law.  Be  good 
enough  not  to  interrupt  me  quite  yet — I  say  it  must  be 
broken  and  forgotten.  My  husband  is  consulting  his 
attorney  about  it  to-day.  I  have  sent  for  my  daughter, 
herself,  to  tell  you  with  her  own  lips  that  it  must  be 
so,  and  that  she  wishes  it  so." 

"  She  wishes  it  so  ?"  he  cried,  panting  like  a  hard- 
pressed  runner.  This  was  the  second  time  his  bride — 


'22  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

the  soft,  the  gentle,  the  loving  Caroline — had  been 
quoted  to  him  as  so  soon  false  to  their  plighted  love. 

"Here  she  is,  to  speak  for  herself,"  continued  the 
lady,  in  rising  tones,  as  a  hurried  nutter  sounded  nearer 
from  the  hall. 

Then,  with  snowy  kerchief  pressed  to  burning  face 
by  both  white  hands ;  with  jet-black  locks  disordered 
on  her  shoulders,  and  a  well-known  dress  of  many  a 
happy  Yon  Gilder  hour  attiring  her  convulsed  form,  the 
girl  tottered  into  the  room,  sank  upon  her  knees  beside 
her  mother's  chair,  and — ah,  fickle  heart ! — without  one 
glance  for  him,  hid  her  tear-stained  features  against 
that  mother's  daring  heart. 

William  Daryl  sprang  to  his  feet  and  took  an  impul 
sive  step  forward.  Instinctively  he  held  out  both  hands 
toward  the  sobbing,  recumbent  figure. 

"  Caroline  !  my  dear  wife  !"  cried  he,  all  the  tender 
ness  of  his  nature  in  his  trembling  voice. 

The  mother  looked  intently  down  upon  the  bowed 
head  on  her  bosom,  and  placed  her  arms  soothingly 
around  the  slender  waist. 

''My  child,  you  must  tell  Mr.  Daryl  that  I  have  not 
misrepresented  you  in  saying  that  you  repent  your  great 
folly." 

"Oh,  yes!    Bitterly!" 

The  positive,  absolutely  shuddering  bitterness  with 
which  the  last  word  was  pronounced,  muffled  and  choked 
as  was  the  tone,  thrilled  the  rejected  husband  like  sud 
den  contact  with  the  cruel  edge  of  a  treacherous  sword. 
He  folded  his  arms,  turned  pallid  to  the  eyes,  and  drew 
a  long  breath. 

"Caroline,"  he  said  slowly,  "if  you  do  indeed  re 
pent  so  early  the  love  I  thought  you  had  given  me  for 
ever,  I  have  nothing  more  to  say.  I  have  only  to  go. 
Do  you  bid  me  go  ?" 


PROLOGUE.  23 

Mother  and  daughter,  in  their  motionless  embrace, 
remained  speechless  under  this  appeal  at  first,  she  who 
had  been  addressed  responding  only  with  augmented 
sobs.  In  the  dim  light  straining  faintly  through  the 
drawn  blinds  they  were  like  widow  and  orphan  at  a 
new  grave. 

"My  poor  child,  you  must  answer,"  murmured  the 
parental  lips  at  last.  "Do  you,  of  your  own  free  will, 
bid  him  go  ?" 

Another  pitiful  pause,  and  then,  as  in  a  gasp,  came 
the  one  fatal  word—"  Yes  !" 

The  young  Englishman's  crossed  arms  relaxed  and 
fell  to  his  sides,  from  over  a  heart  swelling  too  imperi 
ously  to  bear  any  stress  but  its  own.  A  moment  his 
large  eyes  stared  fixedly,  yearningly,  upon  her  whom 
he  had  so  loved ;  then  he  raised  them  bravely  to  Mrs. 
Dornton's  now  colorless  face. 

"Madame,"  he  said,  "  your  husband  need  not  trouble 
his  attorney  until  after  my  return  to  England.  I  shall 
never  make  any  appeal  from  the  judgment  this  lady's 
lips  have  pronounced.  I  have  the  honor  to  bid  you  and 
her  farewell — forever." 

A  bow,  and  he  was  gone. 

The  staunch,  foreboding  friend,  taking  his  way  from 
the  "hotel"  to  the  steamboat-landing  alone,  as  he  had 
promised,  saw  him  arrive  there,  too,  in  feverish  haste, 
even  as  the  boat  was  starting,  and  read  in  his  drawn 
features  all  that  he  had  not  the  heart  to  ask.  They 
scarcely  spoke  while  the  voyage  continued  as  far  as  the 
East  Kiver  extends.  When  the  laboring  Morrisania 
was  turning  the  Battery  toward  her  pier  on  the  Hudson 
shore  of  the  city,  the  poor  young  fellow  looked  wearily 
out  toward  the  ocean. 

"I  must  get  out  of  this  country  immediately,"  he 
said. 


24  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

As  he  spoke,  a  commotion  arose  on  the  forward  part 
of  the  deck  upon  which  they  were  standing,  and  a  wo 
man's  shriek  drew  both  in  headlong  haste  to  the  spot. 
A  child  had  sprung  from  its  mother's  arms  into  the 
water.  Daryl's  quick  look  caught  sight  of  its  white 
dress  sweeping  past,  and  in  an  instant  he  had  leaped 
overboard  to  the  rescue.  In  his  disordered  condition  of 
mind  he  heeded  not  that  he  was  in  front  of  the  yet  re 
volving  wheel  on  that  side,  nor  that  he  dropped  rather 
than  jumped.  A  sloop  following  close  upon  the  boat 
picked  up  the  child  unhurt ;  but,  although  the  murder 
ous  wheels  were  promptly  stopped,  and  the  water 
anxiously  scanned  for  sight  of  the  human  form,  but  now 
so  grand  in  its  noblest  dedication  to  the  God  in  whose 
image  it  had  been  created,  no  sign  of  William  Daryl 
appeared.  The  river  had  closed  over  his  head. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

THE  EFFINGHAMS. 

ON  a  beautiful  afternoon  in  the  spring  of  1845 — so 
early  yet  in  the  season  that  the  northwestern  or  rainy 
monsoon  had,  according  to  almanacs,  a  fortnight's  far 
ther  privilege  of  inclemency, — an  unusually  motley  fleet 
lay  basking,  under  cloudless  sky  and  brilliant  atmos 
phere,  in  the  picturesque  roadstead  of  the  British 
Malayan  port  of  Singapore.  Always  a  curiously-varied 
pageant  of  warlike  and  commercial  shipping,  the  an 
chorage  in  question  presented  a  peculiarly  imposing  dis 
play  on  this  occasion.  Added  to  its  customary  array 
of  towering  East  Indiamen,  all  named  after  some 
"  Castle  "  or  another  ;  trim  smaller  merchantmen  from 
Liverpool,  Amsterdam  or  New  York ;  antiquated 
Cochin-China  imitations  of  modern  naval  architecture  ; 
lumbering  Chinese  junks,  and  an  endless  variety  of 
Archipelago  prahus,  were  Sir  Thomas  Cochrane's  full 
squadron,  the  historical  United  States  frigate  Constitu 
tion,  and  a  long,  low  stranger  coming  into  the  Strait 
that  very  afternoon  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  at  the 
peak. 

To  every  observant  seaman's  eye,  at  least,  this  latter 
craft,  lying  among  and  contrasting  with  the  marine 
models  of  several  different  nations,  was  an  object  of 
curious  interest.  Apparently  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
hundred  tons  burden,  sitting  deep  in  the  water  aft,  no 
tably  broad  of  beam  immediately  forward  of  the  centre, 
and  then  sharpening  keenly  to  a  stem  lifted  almost  clear 
of  the  waves,  by  the  bold  rising  of  her  keel ;  with  her 
tall,  slender  masts  and  tremendously  long  yards,  she 
25 


26  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

looked  fitted  to  outstrip  many  a  steamer,  much  more 
any  man-of-war. 

In  fact,  the  Comanche  was  a  forerunner  of  the  won 
derful  American  "clippers,"  destined,  in  a  few  years 
thence,  to  witch  those  very  seas  with  noble  sailing,  and 
develop  the  old  constructive  principle  of  the  fleet  and 
famous  Chesapeake  coaster  into  an  ideal  of  full-fledged 
maritime  grace  and  speed.  While  certain  wiser  English 
naval  officers  knew  what  a  boat  built  on  such  lines  could 
dare  and  do  from  experience  with  divers  American  pri 
vateers  some  thirty  and  odd  years  before,  a  majority  of 
old-school  mariners  wagged  their  heads  dubiously  at 
the  prahu-like  hull  and  enormous  clouds  of  sail,  and 
maintained  that  she  must  either  "run  under"  or 
"  break  her  back  "  in  any  kind  of  a  bad  sea.  Neverthe 
less,  there  she  was,  safe,  sound  and  neat  as  a  yacht,  off 
Deep  Water  Point  in  the  North  Channel  at  Singapore, 
having  carried  her  owner  and  his  family,  besides  cap 
tain  and  crew,  nearly  around  the  world. 

And  the  owner  of  this  so-criticised  example  of  his 
country's  innovating  temerity,  Mr.  Richard  Eflingham, 
with  wife,  daughter  and  only  son  near  at  hand,  stood 
upon  the  deck,  an  evident  sharer  in  the  pleasant  inter 
est  naturally  responsive  to  such  animated  scenes  as 
those  around  them.  He  was  a  tall,  spare  figure,  charac 
terized  by  bushy  iron-gray  hair,  black  eyes,  unsensuous 
mouth  and  chin,  and  nose  and  forehead  energetically 
and  reflectively  prominent. 

Of  Mrs.  and  Miss  Eflingham,  occupying  camp-chairs 
within  speaking  distance,  not  much  more  could  be  noted 
immediately  than  that  both  possessed  peach-like  com 
plexions  and  very  small  hands,  so  disguisingly  were 
they  draped  in  brown  linen  wrappers  from  shoulders  to 
feet,  and  so  far  forward  upon  their  faces,  in  deference 
to  an  equatorial  sun,  came  the  scarfs  knotted  under 


THE  EFFINGHAMS.  27 

their  chins.  Clambering  stealthily  on  the  bulwarks  far 
ther  toward  the  taffrail  was  the  youngest  of  the  Effing- 
hams,  a  lad  apparently  about  ten  years  old  and  of  elfin 
slenderness,  in  a  check  suit,  made  somewhat  in  the 
juvenile  style  now  called  the  "  Knickerbocker." 

Including  a  third  lady  and  two  body-servants,  not  yet 
visible,  this  was  the  family  party  of  the  wealthy  New 
York  shipping  merchant  owning  the  great  vessel ;  and 
from  the  athletic  activity  of  mates  and  sailors  furling 
sails  and  squaring  yards  on  the  recently-anchored  Co- 
manche,  to  the  strange  and  striking  views  of  mingling 
barbarism  and  civilization  in  the  whole  picture  around, 
the  eyes  of  the  idlers  on  the  deck  roved  in  tireless 
scrutiny. 

So  clear  was  the  balmy  air  that  the  two  miles  yet  in 
tervening  between  themselves  and  the  city  did  not  seem 
to  be  more  than  a  third  of  that  space,  and  the  European 
warehouses,  residences,  churches  and  hotels  along  the 
beach,  the  fine  stone  Government  House  on  the  eleva 
tion  beyond,  the  silvery  intersecting  river  and  its 
bridges,  the  Chinese  quarter  and  mercantile  buildings 
on  the  west  side,  an  edge  of  the  Malay  campong  on  the 
east — dome  of  mosque,  tower  of  Buddhist  temple,  and 
the  fort  commanding  town  and  bay  on  Pearl  Hill — all 
had  a  cameo-like  distinctness  to  the  vision,  and  a  charm 
made  dramatical^  complete  by  the  oriental  setting  of 
hills  dotted  with  villas  and  nodding  with  palms.  The 
opposite  island  of  Battam,  looking  like  one  solid  mass 
of  luxuriant  tropical  forest  and  jungle,  was  a  finely  ar 
tistic  pendant,  with  emerald  islets  dappling  all  the  more 
distant  perspective  until  the  last  flash  of  the  waves  was 
lost  among  them.  A  very  trestlework  of  the  primitive 
triangular  masts  of  Malay  prahus  extended  along  the 
shore ;  and  on  the  glittering  expanse  of  water  between 
that  and  the  anchored  shipping  darted  swarms  of  native 


28  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

sampans  or  light  row-boats  with  palm-leaf  awnings,  or 
crawled  the  more  sluggish  Bugis  coaster,  whose  sturdy 
ere  WN  added  their  sonorous  "  Vela-ah  !  vela!"  as  they 
handled  their  matting  sails  to  the  various  strange  but 
not  unmelodious  sounds  which  caught  the  stranger's  ear. 

Mr.  Effingham  sauntered  nearer  to  the  ladies,  with 
right  hand  grasping  the  corresponding  lapel  of  his  coat, 
as  was  his  wont  in  moments  of  casual  contemplation. 

"This  is  very  fine,"  he  remarked,  with  a  movement 
of  his  head  toward  the  town. 

"But  not  quite  so  striking  as  Batavia,  papa,"  re 
turned  a  sweet,  strong  voice,  while  a  pair  of  bright 
black  eyes  were  lifted  to  meet  his. 

"  I  like  it  much  better  at  first  sight,"  said  Mrs.  Effing- 
ham,  whose  voice  was  lower,  though  as  musical  and 
more  measured  in  its  tones.  "  I  have  a  prejudice 
against  any  place  that,  like  Batavia,  shows  its  worst 
part  first.  The  '  old  town  '  there,  and  the  canal  between 
the  water  and  the  respectable  quarter,  disenchant  one 
so,  that  even  all  the  handsome  streets  and  houses  of 
Weltevreden  Heights  do  not  quite  compensate  for  the 
shock." 

"But  then  those  glorious  blue  mountains  behind— - 
how  grand  they  are !"  persisted  the  younger  speaker 
enthusiastically. 

"Yes,"  assented  her  father,  smiling  at  her  rather 
quizzically;  "  and  then  such  pleasant  friends  as  some 
of  us  found  at  the  Hotel  des  Indes  !" 

Before  this  colloquy  could  lead  to  farther  revelation, 
the  captain  of  the  ship  joined  them,  to  inquire  whether 
his  employer  would  go  ashore  immediately,  or  "wait 
for  Mr.  Dodge  to  come  off?" 

"  Wait,  by  all  means,"  said  Mr,  Effingham.  "  I  sup 
pose,  my  dear,"  turning  to  his  wife,  "that  Miss  An- 
keroo  is  preparing  your  things  for  landing  ?  And,  by 


THE  EFFINGHAMS.  20 

the  way,"  he  added,  looking  sharply  around,  "where 
can  Cherubino  have — " 

The  eyes  of  the  others  had  involuntarily  followed  his, 
and  all  caught  sight  at  the  instant  of  a  pair  of  small 
check  legs  vibrating  in  the  air  on  the  bulwarks,  what 
time  the  shrill  voice  of  the  remainder  of  an  inverted  boy, 
standing  on  his  hands,  was  heard  saluting  a  third  female 
figure  coming  up  from  a  cabin  with  the  remark : 

"  See  here,  Cousin  Sadie,  I  '11  bet  you  can't  do  this  !" 
simultaneously  with  which  incredible  challenge  the  in 
verted  small  boy  went  overboard. 

Father,  mother,  sister  and  the  captain  rushed  to  the 
side  under  a  common  terror,  there  to  behold  a  glossy 
round  head  and  two  young  spindles  of  arms  swim 
ming  vigorously  after  a  lop-sided  floating  cap,  while  a 
frigate's  boat,  with  an  officer  in  the  stern,  rowed  hotly 
in  chase.  The  whole  event — the  fall  and  the  appearance 
of  the  boat — had  been  breathlessly  sudden,  and  almost 
as  quick  was  the  rescue. 

"  All  right !  The  Cherub 's  quite  unhurt !"  came  up 
a  cheery,  familiar  voice,  and  a  dripping  system  of  blink 
ing  countenance  and  tender  check  limbs,  all  moving  to 
express  rapture  over  the  saving  of  the  tightly-clutched 
cap,  was  held  aloft  over  the  thwarts  in  the  strong  arms 
of  the  young  naval  officer. 

"Oh,  you  everlasting  little  plague !"  ejaculated  she 
who  had  been  called  Cousin  Sadie,  as  the  moistened 
child  was  expeditiously  handed  up  the  rope  ladder 
swiftly  let  down  from  the  deck.  "  And  what  a  mess  !" 
for  he  was  enriched  by  a  coating  of  the  pea-soup-like 
scum,  having  an  odor  as  of  painter's  oil,  and  called  by 
the  Malays  "sara,"  that  sometimes  comes  into  those 
waters  at  ebb  from  the  China  Sea. 

"Papa,  it 's  Lieutenant  Belmore  !"  was  the  exclama 
tion  of  Miss  Effingham,  who,  now  that  her  first  pallor 


30  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  J/JLY. 

had  disappeared,  displayed  an  animated  face  of  recog 
nition  toward  the  comely  and  blonde  young  man  in 
English  uniform,  bowing  a  return  laughingly  from  amid 
the  upraised  oars  of  his  boat. 

"My  dear  young  sir,"  called  her  father,  "  we  did  not 
expect  to  see  you  so  soon  again.  Can't  you  come  up 
long  enough  to  receive  our  thanks  ?  Is  your  ship  here  ?" 

"No  thanks  deserved,  sir,"  shouted  back  the  Lieu 
tenant.  "  Have  the  pleasure  of  paying  my  respects  on 
shore.  Official  business  just  now ;  but  knew  the  Co- 
manche  a  mile  off.  Left  Batavia  on  the  Cressy,  and 
transferred  to  the  Agincourt,  for  Singapore,  on  sick- 
leave  !"  And  he  smiled  archly  and  waved  a  temporary 
adieu  as  his  crew  dropped  oars  again  into  the  waves. 

The  ladies  now  withdrew  to  their  cabins,  whither 
Cousin  Sadie,  otherwise  Miss  Ankeroo,  had  hurried  the 
sloppy  young  torment  of  her  life,  and  were  there  in 
formed,  after  they  had  somewhat  recovered  from  their 
flutter,  that  the  cap  which  the  Cherub  first  thought  of 
in  the  water  had  been  found  to  contain,  feloniously  hid 
den  in  its  lining,  the  long-missing  potato-knife  of  the 
cook. 

It  remained  for  the  head  of  the  family  to  be  thought 
fully  congratulated  by  the  Captain  upon  his  son's  ob 
viously  charmed  life — inasmuch  as  he  had  fallen  down 
a  very  steep  companion-ladder  seven  times,  and  been 
headlong  into  the  water  twice,  since  their  sailing  from 
Batavia,  with  miraculous  impunity — and  then  to  turn 
his  attention  again  to  the  shore.  While  thus  he  looked, 
one  of  the  many  plying  sampans  in  sight,  rowed  by  a 
half-naked  coolie  at  either  end,  and  bearing,  over  the 
centre,  a  striped  canopy  under  which  sat  a  passenger 
in  European  dress,  was  seen  to  emerge  from  its  com 
panions  and  make  sharply  for  the  ship. 

"This  is  Mr.  Dodge  coming,  I  think,  sir,"  observed 


THE  EFFINGHAMS.  31 

the  Captain  leading  the  way  to  an  opening  on  the  side, 
where  steps  had  been  swung  for  shore-boats. 

The  long  and  narrow  little  native  craft  was  yet  mov 
ing,  when  a  tall,  elastic  specimen  of  manhood  in  some 
kind  of  pith  helmet,  alpaca  coat  and  white  waistcoat 
and  trousers,  unfolded  himself  nimbly  from  beneath 
the  canopy,  and,  seizing  a  side  of  the  iron  gangway, 
came  up  hand  over  hand  to  the  deck. 

"That's  like  your  old  style,  Mr.  Dodge,"  laughed 
Captain  Brace ;  the  gentleman  by  his  side  looking  on 
with  amazement. 

"  Yes — how  d'  do,  Cap  ? — that 's  my  style  when  I  'm 
feeling  first-rate,"  was  the  hearty  answer  of  the  stranger, 
who  was  now  seen  to  be  about  thirty-five  years  of  age, 
the  possessor  of  a  frame  like  an  athlete's  in  full  train 
ing,  and  of  a  capping  of  closely-cut  reddish  hair  over 
dancing  hazel  eyes,  and  nose  and  mouth  humorous  in 
their  boldness.  "  I  see  you  're  looking  first-rate,  Brace, 
after  all  this  while — four  years,  isn't  it  ? — and  you  're 
sailing  a  stunner  this  time,  sure  enough."  He  was 
shaking  hands  energetically  when  first  seeming  to  ob 
serve  that  they  were  not  alone  :  "Where  'sMr. — excuse 
me,  though — is  this — ?" 

"This  is  Mr.  Dodge,  Mr.  Effingham,"  interjected 
the  Captain. 

"I  am  pleased  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Dodge,"  the  mer 
chant  said,  rather  stiffly. 

"Thank  you,"  responded  the  other  with  a  business 
like  shake  of  the  hand,  and  without  the  least  embarrass 
ment.  "  I  hope  that  you  've  had  a  pleasant  voyage  up, 
and  that  the  ladies  and  young  master  are  well.  What 
do  you  think  of  us  here,  so  far  ?" 

As  the  Captain  walked  off,  Mr.  Effingham  looked 
somewhat  sternly  into  the  lively  eyes  of  his  now  first-met 
correspondent  at  Singapore.  In  a  moment,  however, 


32  IBERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

he  realized  that  there  was  no  good  ground  for  offense, 
and  answered  that  he  found  the  weather  warmer  than 
he  had  expected. 

"  That 's  because  we  're  having  what  the  natives  call 
the  'Java  wind,'  just  now,"  explained  Mr.  Dodge. 
"  About  as  sensible,  you  know,  sir,  as  though  you  should 
call  it  the  '  Florida  wind'  when  you  have  an  occasional 
hot  southern  sea-breeze  in  the  summer  in  New  York. 
You  '11  find  the  land  breeze  cool  enough." 

"I  see  that  our  frigate  Constitution  is  here." 

"  Yes.  Some  of  her  officers  have  been  at  my  hotel. 
She  's  been  to  Bruni — that 's  Borneo — to  offer  the  Sultan, 
there  help  against  the  Sooloo  pirates  if  he  chooses  to 
make  a  commercial  treaty  with  the  United  States.  At 
least,  so  I  understand  it.  The  acting  commodore  is 
supposed  to  be  waiting  now  for  a  final  answer  ;  but  they 
say  that  he  's  been  played  false  by  his  interpreter  (who 
came  here  with  Rajah  Brooke,  of  Sarawak),  and  will  not 
be  able  to  report  a  success  to  the  new  president,  Mr. 
Polk." 

"Then  Mr.  Brooke  is  not  favorable  to  Americans," 
remarked  Mr.  Effingham  with  quick  interest.  "I'm 
sorry  for  that,  since  we  are  going  to  Borneo." 

"  On  the  contrary,  my  dear  sir,"  corrected  Mr.  Dodge 
— and  he  barely  missed  saying,  "my  dear  boy"—"  the 
'  Tuan  Besar',  as  they  call  him  in  his  Rajahdom,  takes 
to.  us  mighty  kindly.  The  interpreter  and  he  parted 
company  at  Singapore  here,  when  they  first  came  out, 
six  years  ago.  They  're  not  good  friends." 

"I  should  regret,  on  general  principles,  to  find  so 
great  an  Englishman  as  Mr.  Brooke  inimical  to  my 
countrymen,"  said  the  merchant.  And  then,  after  a 
pause — "  I  infer  that  you  received  my  letters  from  Lon 
don,  Funchal,  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Batavia." 

"Yes,  sir  ;  and  have  carried  out  your  instructions  to 


THE  EFFINGHAMS.  33 

the  best  of. my  ability,"  responded  the  other.  "  Much 
obliged  to  my  old  employer  in  New  York,  Mr.  Yon 
Gilder,  for  recommending  me  to  you." 

The  conversation  now  took  a  brief  turn  toward  busi 
ness,  not  of  immediate  interest  for  this  narrative.  At 
its  conclusion,  prefatory  to  withdrawal,  the  correspond 
ent  at  Singapore  begged  leave  to  offer  one  of  his  cards, 
an  exhibition  of  which  at  the  landing,  he  said,  would 
attract  the  proper  porter  for  his  hotel. 

"You  '11  see,  sir,"  he  added,  "  that  I  've  come  as  near 
giving  my  house  a  name  worthy  of  a  truly  American 
proprietor  as  the  geography  of  these  parts  will  allow. 
Shall  have  the  pleasure  of  waiting  upon  you  there  again, 
I  hope." 

Then  he  darted  down  the  steps,  in  flying  leaps,  to  his 
sampan  ;  the  latter  pushed  off  through  the  shore  boats 
of  fruit  and  other  local  commodities  now  beginning  to 
beset  the  sides  of  the  Comanche ;  and  Mr.  Effingham 
put  on  his  eye-glasses  to  peruse  the  card  : 


UNITED  STRAITS  HOTEL, 
SINGAPORE. 

FELIX  DODGE,  PROPRIETOR. 
Entertainment  for  Man  and  Beast. 

Agent  for  P.  T.  Barnum. 


"He  seems  to  be  sensible  and  shrewd,"  soliloquized 
the  merchant  as  he  walked  cabinward  to  advise  his 
family  and  servants  that  their  private  "gig"  was  pre 
paring  for  the  shore ;  "he  seems  to  be  intelligent  and 
trustworthy  ;  but  Yon  Gilder  never  told  me  that  he  was 
the  style  of  man  to  behave  circus-like  and  tend  to  puns. 
Agent  for  Mr.  Barnum,  too  !  "Well,  we  shall  see." 


CHAPTER  II. 

LIEUTENANT  BELMORE  PAYS  HIS  RESPECTS. 

A  YEAR  earlier  than  the  memorable  arrival  in  Singa 
pore  of  that  Englishman  who  was  to  be  known  to  future 
romantic  fame  as  a  Rajah  of  Borneo,  an  American  mer 
chantman  from  Hong  Kong  brought  to  the  same  port 
a  passenger  no  less  boldly  enterprising  in  his  way, 
although  of  another  nationality.  As  commercial  trav 
eler  for  the  New  York  firm  of  Yon  Gilder  &  Co.,  pro 
moted  on  his  merits  to  that  rank  from  a  previous  home 
clerkship,  Mr.  Felix  Dodge  had  decided  to  go  back 
from  China  by  way  of  the  Strait  of  Malacca,  in  order  to 
have  a  glimpse  at  least  of  the  mighty  East  Indian  Archi 
pelago  and  some  of  its  twelve  thousand  islands. 

It  was  being  wrecked  upon  the  Isle  of  Wight,  on  his 
return  from  sick-leave  to  his  cadetship  in  India,  that 
determined  James  Brooke  to  the  so-illustrious  historical 
change  in  his  career ;  and  incidental,  scarcely  less  dis 
mal  experience  of  contemporary  hotel  life  in  the  cos 
mopolitan  City  of  the  Straits  turned  our  American 
mercantile  tourist  into  a  phenomenally  successful  local 
innkeeper. 

The  illogical  disproportion  between  the  bill  tendered 
by  his  temporary  landlord  and  the  native  curiosities  of 
bed  and  board  which  he  had  endured  inspired  a  lively 
discussion  at  parting,  the  termination  of  which  was  his 
vigorous  assertion  of  the  practicability  of  a  hotel  "fit 
for  white  men  "  in  Singapore,  and  positive  pledge  to 
"start"  one  of  that  Caucasian  appropriateness  there 
himself  immediately.  It  may  have  been  that  the  idea 
of  really  undertaking  such  a  thing  had  not  occurred  to 

34 


LIEUT.  BELMORE  PAYS  HIS  RESPECTS.     35 

him  before  uttering  the  design,  yet  from  the  moment  of 
that  emphatic  utterance  he  was  possessed  of  the  resolu 
tion  to  execute  it  to  the  fullest  extent.  Having  accu 
mulated  savings  in  his  employment  to  the  amount  of 
ten  thousand  dollars,  the  thought  of  investing  them  in 
an  appreciative  property  of  his  own  in  this  busy  and 
novel  part  of  the  speculative  world  grew  upon  his  liking 
equally  with  the  pleasant  fancy  of  becoming  his  own 
master.  Besides,  as  an  American  familiarized  with  the 
East  Indies  and  trained  to  general  business,  might  he 
not  supplement  his  proprietorship  as  a  publican  with 
commercial  agencies  for  houses  in  the  United  States  ? 

Acting  upon  the  reflection,  Mr.  Dodge  wrote  at  once 
of  his  scheme  to  Yon  Gilder  &  Co.,  and  then,  through 
the  friendly  help  of  acquaintances  in  counting-houses 
to  which  he  had  brought  letters,  secured  a  site  for  his 
proposed  enterprise  on  the  eastern  and  "fashionable" 
side  of  the  river,  or  creek,  dividing  the  modern  town 
from  the  Chinese  and  mercantile  quarter.  In  person  he 
bought  his  timber  from  the  Chinese  lumbermen  in  the 
interior  of  the  island ;  he  drew  his  own  simple  archi 
tectural  plans  and  personally  supervised  his  small  army 
of  oriental  workmen,  and  the  result  was  the  most  rapid 
example  of  household  construction  ever  witnessed  in 
Singapore. 

This  was  the  genesis  of  the  first  American  hotel  in 
East  India — a  large,  square  building  of  two  stories, 
painted  white,  with  pillars  to  the  cornice  and  two  long 
balconies  in  front,  and  palm  trees  judiciously  distributed 
around  the  back  and  sides.  It  stood  near  enough  to  the 
more  prominent  European  residences,  counting-rooms, 
churches,  official  buildings,  parade-ground  and  drive  to 
be  thoroughly  eligible  in  point  of  position ;  commanded 
a  breezy,  characteristic  view  of  beach,  roadstead  and 
the  opposite  shore  of  Battam ;  had  a  receiving  zoologi- 


36  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

cal  garden  of  its  own  for  any  rare  beasts,  birds  or 
snakes  of  the  Archipelago  which  might  be  attainable  at 
any  time  for  a  certain  American  showman  of  rising 
celebrity,  and  rejoiced  in  a  Portuguese  chief  cook  and 
staff  of  Javanese  servants  most  exactingly  selected. 

When  the  cards  of  this  new  caravansary  were  out 
from  the  job-office  of  the  Straits  Times,  and  by  some 
hitherto  incredible  ingenuities  of  circulation  had  pene 
trated  to  the  tables,  desks  and  cabin  of  every  civilized 
home  and  counting-room  in  the  town  and  ship  in  the 
harbor,  it  was  known  that  "while,"  as  an  inclosing 
printed  circular  said,  "the  name  chosen  for  the  house 
should  be  congenial  to  the  local  attachments  of  'the 
most  Straitest  sect,'  it  yet  phonetically  suggested  the 
proprietor's  native  country — with  only  a  little  '  r  '-tistic 
difference." 

Upon  the  whole,  this  manner  of  putting  the  thing 
was  happily  received  by  the  English-speaking  Singa 
poreans,  even  if  they  were  at  first  somewhat  slow  about 
patronizing  the  place.  There  was,  however,  one  long- 
remembered  exception  to  the  rule.  A  ve^  fat  and 
choleric  old  Scotch  gentleman,  Mr.  Mac  Terrifer  by 
name,  heavily  in  the  pepper  exportation,  found  the 
terms  of  the  circular  quite  unintelligible  and  took  them 
in  grievous  dudgeon. 

"The  mon's  daft,  ye  ken,"  he  insisted,  growing 
fiercely  red  in  the  face.  "What  hae  the  Screeptural 
tairms  o'  '  most  straitest  sect '  to  do  wi'  yon  Yankee 
tavern  ?  And  it 's  '  States '  and  not  '  Straits '  he  cooms 
from.  Away  wi'  yer  noonsinse,  I  tal  ye  1" 

In  vain  his  calmer  and  more  idiomatic  English  friends 
wrestled  with  him  on  the  subject  from  day  to  day,  ex 
plaining  over  and  over,  with  laborious  distinctness  of 
syllables,  that  the  word  "Straits"  spelt  without  "a 
little  r  "  has  the  sound  of  "  Staits— States. "  "  '  United 


LIEUT.  BELMOEE  PAYS  HIS  RESPECTS.      37 

Straits,'  without  the  'little  r,'  'United  Staits— States. ' 
Don't  you  see  now  ? — '  a  little  r'-tistic  difference  !" 

But  no  !  he  would  not  have  it.  "  What  had  'art'  to 
do  wi'  it  all?"  And  so  he  went  on,  irascibly  disdain 
ful,  until  fully  six  months  later,  when,  dining  vora 
ciously  upon  haggis,  there  abruptly  dawned  upon  him, 
between  two  mouthfuls,  a  perception  of  the  joke. 

"A  wee  airteestic  deef'rence?"  he  suddenly  sput 
tered  and  choked,  to  the  startled  dismay  of  those 
around  him.  "  Hech,  sirs,  it 's  as  plain  as  the  nose  on 
a  mon's  feece  !" — then  fell  into  alarming  convulsions  of 
guttural  tumult,  having  barely  the  strength  to  murmur 
huskily,  "Let  me  be  bled  !"  as  they  assisted  him  to  a 
couch,  whereon  be  was  to  have  a  very  narrow  escape 
from  apoplexy. 

To  a  suite  of  rooms  in  the  hotel  with  this  history 
came  the  American  family  of  our  story,  leaving  the 
Comanche  to  go  back  in  her  own  wake  a  distance,  dip 
ping  her  colors  to  the  gallant  old  Constitution,  and  sail 
ing  up  the  China  Sea  to  Hong  Kong.  The  Effinghams, 
father  an4  son,  have  already  been  described  sufficiently 
for  the  present ;  it  is  the  turn  of  the  ladies,  now  that 
their  heads  are  uncovered  and  their  forms  free  from  the 
ever  ungraceful  outer  trappings  of  ocean  life,  to  be 
introduced  more  definitely. 

The  reception-room  occupied  by  them  had  a  bare 
ness  of  upholstery  suitable  to  the  tropical  climate. 
Scattered  mats  of  brightly-colored  rattan,  or  palm,  or 
cocoanut  fibre,  took  the  usual  place  of  carpet ;  settees  of 
bamboo  and  cane  faced  each  other  on  either  side  of  the 
apartment ;  chairs  of  equally  cool  anatomy  stood  around 
at  social  intervals,  and  at  the  two  tall  French  windows 
leading  out  to  the  balcony — between  which  were  table 
and  mirror— curtains  of  figured  Chinese  matting  and 


38  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

corded  blinds  made  it  practicable  to  modify  the  light 
without  excluding  the  breeze. 

Engaged  in  some  fragile  form  of  needlework,  Mrs. 
Effingham,  sitting  near  one  of  the  casements,  and 
glancing  abstractedly  through  the  blinds  in  the  inter 
vals  of  her  employment,  was  a  figure  gracefully  focus 
sing,  as  it  were,  the  tranquil  domesticity  of  the  family 
group.  Not  yet  forty  years  old,  she  looked  not  over 
thirty,  despite  the  matronly  cut  of  a  dark  dress,  Quaker- 
like  in  its  freedom  from  all  ornament,  and  surmounted 
by  a  broad  white  collar,  and  a  prim  fall  of  cap-lace  over 
the  generous  braid  into  which  her  plenteous  black  hair 
was  drawn  back  as  uncompromisingly  as  its  natural 
wave  would  allow.  A  complexion  showing  no  trace  of 
voyaging  exposure,  and  unusually  fair  to  accompany 
such  rich  black  locks,  added  delicacy  of  effect  to  fea 
tures  indicative  only  of  soft  womanly  traits ;  and  when 
the  dark  eyes  were  raised  occasionally  to  glance  through 
the  blinds,  they  exhibited  a  certain  unchanging  sadness 
of  expression  informing  the  wrhole  refined  face  -'with 
serious  thoughtfulness. 

On  a  settee  opposite,  in  the  shaded  light  of  the  other 
window,  Miss  Effingham  had  assumed  a  half-reclining 
posture  as  a  reader,  her  book  being  a  volume  of  Dick 
ens'  "Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  a  work  then  newly  published 
in  London,  and  but  freshly  received  in  the  Indies.  If 
her  hair  and  complexion  were  like  her  mother's  the 
daughter  seemed  to  have  inherited  none  of  that  parent's 
settled  pensiveness  of  aspect,  the  lustrous  black  curls, 
reaching  nearly  to  her  pink-ribbon  girdle,  showing  not 
more  exuberance  of  girlish  naturalness  than  the  varying 
flashes  of  the  now  particularly  rounded  black  eyes  pe 
rusing  what  appeared  to  be  a  page  not  wholly  soothing. 
Appareled  in  white,  with  a  narrower  pink  ribbon  bowed 
at  the  neck  to  match  the  one  around  an  equally  supple 


LIEUT.  BELMORE  PAYS  HIS  RESPECTS.      39 

little  waist,  Miss  Effingham  might  have  been  a  mere 
bud  of  a  school-girl  vexing  over  a  lesson,  instead  of  a 
greatly  traveled  young  lady  passing  time  with  a  novel. 
The  third  figure  of  the  trio  present  gave  her  attention 
to  a  book  also,  but  it  was  one  of  graver  proportions, 
opened  upon  the  table  between  the  windows,  and  the 
reader  in  the  chair  drawn  up  thereto  had  a  marked  per 
sonality  of  her  own.  She  was  Miss  Sarah  Ankeroo, 
otherwise  second-cousin  Sadie  to  Mrs.  Emngham,  since 
the  death  of  her  parents  in  Vermont  an  adopted  mem 
ber  of  thQ  New  York  family,  and,  by  inclination  and 
fitting  acquirements,  nursery-governess,  "companion," 
and  chief  domestic  counsel  of  the  household.  She  was 
now  with  her  late  mother's  cousinly  kinfolk  in  the  curi 
ously-mixed  capacity  of  dragon  to  Master  Cherubino, 
dressing-maid  to  his  sister,  interpreter  to  the  party  and 
prospective  missionary  to  the  ingenuous  Dyaks  of 
Borneo.  Her  possession  of  an  education  elaborated  even 
to  -some  scientific  knowledge  of  medicine,  and  inher 
itance  of  the  revenue  of  a  goodly  patrimonial  farm, 
made  this  energetic  Green  Mountain  spinster  of  thirty 
years  no  less  confident  to  assume  varied  intellectual  re 
sponsibilities  than  capable  of  paying  her  own  way. 

Nevertheless,  Miss  Ankeroo  displayed  none  -  of  the 
gaunt,  acrid  outer-belongings  of  ordinary  unfeminine 
strong-mindedness.  She  was  slightly  below  the  medium 
stature,  wholesomely  plump,  and  had  rosy  cheeks  and 
flossy  yellow  hair.  Gold  spectacles,  necessitated  by 
near-sightedness,  gave  whimsical  severity  of  effect  to 
pale-blue  eyes,  else  mating  harmoniously  with  a  child 
like  roundness  and  mobility  of  countenance.  But  even 
perpetual  sobriety  of  attire  could  not  much  intensify 
the  sage  maturity  of  individual  presentment  it  was  her 
whim  ordinarily  to  affect. 
Afternoon  had  advanced  far  enough  toward  the  cooler 


40  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

hours  for  the  sounds  of  wheels  and  of  the  animation 
temporarily  renewed  in  the  city  when  the  hottest  period 
of  the  day  had  passed,  to  arise  from  the  baked  street 
below  the  hotel  balcony.  With  an  impatient  little 
bang  of  her  book  and  its  pettish  casting  aside,  Miss 
Effingham  straightened  to  an  upright  posture  on  the 
settee,  loosened  her  massive  curls  by  a  pretty  movement 
of  the  head,  and  returned  to  colloquial  life. 

"  I  declare,  Cousin  Sadie,"  she  began,  "  the  way  you 
keep  on  with  that  hateful  old  Marsden's  Dictionary  is 
enough  to  turn  you  into  a  Malay  yourself." 

The  gleam  of  the  scholarly  spectacles  was  turned 
upon  her  with  patient  toleration. 

"  Every  hour  is  precious  now,  Abretta,  when  we 
shall  so  soon  be  in  Borneo.  I  am  not  half  so  far  in  the 
language  yet  as  I  ought  to  be,  even  after  those  lessons  I 
took  in  Batavia." 

"Well,  but  of  course  papa  will  secure  a  regular  in 
terpreter  here  before  we  go." 

"  That  will  be  nothing  to  me  in  my  Dyak  school, 
Abretta." 

"At  any  rate,"  pleaded  the  impracticable  young 
beauty,  "  you  can  spare  time,  Cousin  Sadie,  to  hear  just 
what  I  think  about  Mr.  Charles  Dickens  and  the  way  he 
abuses  America.  I  do  declare,  I  'm  almost  ready  never  to 
read  an  English  novel  again !  The  English  are  always  so 
ut-ter-ly  aggravating  when  they  have  anything  to  say 
about  us !  Here  is  Dickens,  who  was  treated  so  well 
on  his  visit,  making  Americans  talk  with  hyphens  be 
tween  all  their  syllables ;  and,  oh,  he  does  represent 
our  editors  and  ladies  as  such  ridiculous  creatures  !  I 
declare,  I  could  detest  everything  English  after  reading 
such  a  book  !" . 

"  My  dear  !  my  dear !  do  not  be  so  extravagant,"  re 
monstrated  her  mother  gently.  • 


LIEUT.  BELMORE  PAYS  HIS  RESPECTS.      41 

"  But,  mamma,  I  do  mean  it  all !"  persisted  the 
glowing  young  patriot.  "Without  exception.  English 
men  are  the  most  unjust,  selfish,  hateful—" 

A  knock  at  the  door,  and  a  yellow-faced  servant  in 
spotless  white  nankeen,  with  a  card  for  the  ladies. 

"  '  Mr.  Edwin  Belmore,'  "  read  Mrs.  Eflingham  as  the 
waiter  departed. 

Cousin  Sadie  turned  from  her  book,  and  flashed  her 
glasses  upon  the  interrupted  previous  speaker  in  piti 
lessly-abashing  reprehension.  "Without  exception," 
echoed  she,  "Englishmen  are  the  most  unjust,  selfish, 
hateful — "  and  was  dwelling  awfully  yet  upon  the  last 
word  when  the  caller  stood  bowing  in  the  doorway. 

"Ladies,  a  thousand  pardons  for  following  my  paste 
board  in  such  a  hurry,"  he  apologized,  shaking  hands 
very  heartily  all  around.  "  I  hope  I  haven't  broken  up 
any  little  scolding  of  yours,  Miss  Ankeroo.  I  know  how 
harmless  they  always  were  at  Batavia,  you  know  !  But 
really  I  've  been  in  a  hurry  to  get  here  ever  since  I 
heard  that  you  had  come  ashore.  You  all  seem  so  like 
real  old  friends.  That  is,  I  don't  mean  that  you  seem 
old,  at  all,  Miss  Ankeroo.  Quite  the  contrary.  You 
know  what  I  mean,  Mrs.  Efiingham." 

His  frank  sailor  face  showed  the  flush  of  ardent 
good  feeling  even  through  its  manly  tint  of  tan. 

"  We  know  you  always  mean  everything  that  is  polite 
and  kind,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham.  "Pray  be  seated, 
Mr.  Belmore." 

"With  your  permission,  ladies,"  he  replied  briskly, 
availing  himself  of  the  invitation. 

"  Doesn't  this  seem  like  being  in  Batavia  again,  Miss 
Eflingham  ?  Was  I  really  introduced  to  you  there  at 
that  party  at  Mrs.  Van  Zant's,  or  have  I  known  your 
family  ever  so  many  years  ?" 

The  two  older  ladies  smiled  acknowledgment  of  his 


42  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

so  freely-shown  partiality  for  their  party,  as  they  might 
have  smiled  at  an  amiable  boy's  greeting  of  welcome. 
The  Effinghams  had  indeed  first  met  the  young  Lieu 
tenant  at  a  party  in  Batavia  while  his  ship  was  there, 
and  took  his  immediate  obvious  attraction  to  their  circle 
in  a  spirit  worthy  of  his  singularly  ingenuous  character. 

"  We  've  known  you  long  enough  it  seems,  Mr.  Bel- 
more,"  said  Abretta  demurely,  "for  you  to  pass 
through  a  fashionable  season,  and  be  dangerously  sick 
and  get  well  again.  It  ought  to  take  at  least  a  year  for 
all  that  to  happen." 

"Now  you're  laughing  at  my  sick-leave  from  the 
Cress?/,"  he  cried,  flushing  guiltily.  "  I  didn't  think  it 
of  you,  Miss  Efnngham !  You  see,  ma'am  and  Miss 
Ankeroo,"  turning  for  a  moment  to  them,  "as  my 
uncle  is  at  Singapore  just  now  with  his  regiment,  it  was 
an  excuse  for  me  to  come  here  for  recovery  from  a 
slight  sunstroke — very  slight,  I  '11  confess.  But,  upon 
my  word,  Miss  Effingham,  it 's  hardly  kind  in  you  to  be 
so  quick  in  catching  me  up." 

Miss  Ankeroo,  who  already  confessed  a  strong  parti 
san  feeling  for  the  young  man,  had  her  spirit  of  cham 
pionship  sympathetically  stirred  by  what  sounded  like 
his  ungenerous  arraignment  by  the  one  of  their  party 
who  should  have  been  the  very  last  to  question  the  oc 
casion  of  his  presence  with  them  again. 

"You  can  hardly  hope  to  find  a  fair  judge  in  our 
Abretta,  Mr.  Belmore,"  was  her  sharp  interjection  here. 
"  At  the  moment  of  your  arrival  she  was  saying  to  us 
that,  'without  exception,  Englishmen — '  " 

"  If  you  repeat  that,  Cousin  Sadie,  I  '11  never  forgive 
you  !"  broke  in  the  culprit,  blushing  furiously. 

"It  was  something  against  my  unfortunate  country 
men,  then,"  retorted  the  Lieutenant,  more  than  re 
venged  by  her  discomfiture,  and  smiling  instant  pardon. 


LIEUT.  BELMORE  PAYS  HIS  RESPECTS.      43 

"  But,  you  know,  ladies,  I  have  some  very  good  Yankee 
blood  in  my  own  veins.  That  must  be  one  reason,"  he 
added  innocently,  "wlr^  I 've*  always  taken  to  you  so 
tremendously.  One  of  my  great-grandmothers  was  born 
in  the  United  States." 

"There,  mamma!" 

Abretta  was  the  speaker,  and  by  an  impulse  she  would 
have  found  it  hard  to  explain  to  herself.  Assuredly  it 
originated  from  no  past  counsel  with  her  mother  on  the 
genealogy  of  their  visitor ;  for  they  had  all  accepted 
him  without  the  least  conjectural  reserve  as  to  that 
point.  It  was,  therefore,  without  apparent  notice  of 
her  daughter's  irrelevant  exclamation  that  Mrs.  Effing- 
ham  now  regarded  the  youth  with  a  freshened  interest 
showing  vividly  in  her  inquiring  look  at  him. 

"  Indeed,  Mr.  Belmore  ?"  said  she.  "  May  we  ask  if 
that  was  your  father's  grandmother  ?" 

Admiring  the  lady's  dignified  beauty  and  exquisite 
feminine  refinement  of  manners,  as  he  had  enthusiasti 
cally  from  the  first  hour  of  his  acquaintance  with  the 
family  in  Java,  Belmore  was  delighted  with  this  special 
earnestness  of  concern  about  himself. 

"No,  dear  madame,"  was  his  ready  reply;  "my 
mother's.  She  died  long  before  I  was  born ;  but  I  know 
that  my  great-grandfather  first  saw  her  in  New  York, 
and  married  her  there.  From  her  portrait  she  must 
have  been  very  handsome.  I  'm  only  afraid  my  ances 
tor  wasn't  half  good  enough  for  her — he  was  such  an 
eccentric.  I  give  you  my  word  it  was  his  queer  cutting- 
up  with  his  will  that  has  kept  us  all  poor  ever  since, 
with  the  family  estate  and  fortune  in  Chancery." 

"What  a  shame!"  ejaculated  Abretta,  who,  with 
elbow  on  an  arm  of  the  settee,  and  curly  head  leaning 
upon  uplifted  hand,  had  paid  animated  attention  to 
this  rehearsal. 


44  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  That  everlasting  English  Chancery !"  commented 
Miss  Ankeroo,  always  more  forcible  than  exact  in  her 
terms  when  she  forgot  her  scholarly  obligations  of 
speech. 

As  Mrs.  Effingham  merely  inclined  her  head  slightly 
and  dropped  her  eyes  again  to  her  needlework,  the 
Lieutenant  went  no  farther  with  his  confidence  than  to 
observe  that,  under  the  circumstances,  his  uncle,  the 
Colonel,  ought  to  be  more  favorable  to  Americans  than 
he  was. 

"He's  the  dearest  of  old  fellows— like  a  father  to 
me,  Miss  Effingham ;  but  I  sometimes  think  I  can  see 
some  of  my  queer  grandfather's  blood  in  him.  Besides, 
he 's  been  in  your  country,  too ;  and,  although  my 
mother  would  never  tell  the  secret,  I  've  always  thought 
he  must  have  met  some  great  trouble  there." 

Neither  Cousin  Sadie  nor  the  younger  lady  having  the 
inquisitorial  assurance  to  pursue  so  delicately  personal 
a  subject,  the  brief  ensuing  silence  was  followed  by 
general  conversation ;  and  when,  upon  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Effingham  in  the  room,  the  caller  finally  laughed 
his  adieux,  it  was  with  the  understanding  that  the 
family  would  gratefully  avail  themselves,  during  their 
stay,  of  his  avowed  ample  leisure  and  superior  know 
ledge  of  the  city. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A   CASE  IN   CHANCERY. 

THE  arrival  of  the  historical  United  States  frigate  at 
the  capital  of  Borneo  proper,  to  test  the  practicability 
of  "a  commercial  treaty  with  Hamet  AH,  the  putative 
Malay  Sultan  of  that  principal  district  of  the  island, 
was  a  political  result  of  the  great  interest  that  had  re 
cently  been  excited  in  America  by  the  dramatic  story 
of  Sarawak.  The  Vincennes  had  brought  home  from 
the  Archipelago  some  fuller  details  of  events  already 
celebrated  in  English  accounts;  and,  although  Com 
mander  Keppel's  history  of  his  expedition  thither  on  H. 
M.  S.  Dido  had  not  yet  been  published,  the  world  knew 
the  essential  facts  of  Mr.  Brooke's  heroic  battles  with 
Borneon  rebels  and  pirates,  and  his  beneficent  advent 
to  a  virtual  sovereignty  of  the  province  he  had  redeemed 
from  chronic  barbarian  anarchy. 

No  episode  of  modern  political  history  appeals  more 
strikingly  to  the  imagination,  or  more  congenially  to 
man's  higher  moral  nature  than  the  English  Rajah's 
crusade  at  Sarawak.  Born  to  no  higher  estate  than  a 
patrimony  acquired  in  the  civil  service  of  the  East  India 
Company  in  Bengal ;  diverted  by  a  mere  casualty  of 
incidental  travel  from  farther  destination  to  an  Indian 
cadetship,  wherein  his  highest  immediate  dream  of  glory 
had  been  nearly  fatally  realized  in  a  gallant  charge  over 
a  stockade  at  Rungpore,  in  the  Brahmapootra  valley, 
during  the  first  Burmese  war — this  eminent  man  made 
no  more  selfish  use  of  his  inheritance  of  wealth,  taste  of 
war  and  ten  years  of  maturing  trips  around  the  world, 
than  to  apply  them  finally  to  the  rescue  and  Christian 
45 


46  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

civilization  of  a  remote  barbaric  territory  and  people, 
previously  known  to  general  mankind  chiefly  through 
the  imperfect  annals  of  peaceful  ships  and  men  assailed, 
from  inaccessible  pirate-dens,  for  two  centuries,  by  the 
most  pitiless  freebooters  of  the  Eastern  seas. 

It  was  a  noble  illustration  of  the  imperially  confident 
supremacy  of  mental  and  moral  culture  over  the  utmost 
physical  force  that  ignorance  and  superstition  can  op 
pose  to  it,  when  the  former  youthful  cadet  of  the  soul 
less  East  India  corporation  entered  the  Java  Sea,  in  the 
spring  of  1839,  with  only  his  private  yacht,  Royalist, 
and  a  staff  and  crew  of  less  than  forty  Europeans,  to 
essay,  unassisted  by  any  stronger  backing  than  his  own 
indomitable  will,  the  redemption  of  millions  of  heathen 
bondmen  from  a  despotism  and  darkness  practically 
unbroken  for  hundreds  of  years. 

How  he  succeeded  and  quickly  became  the  literally 
idolized  governor  of  Sarawak,  a  southwestern  depend 
ency  of  Borneo  proper,  was  soon  known  to  outer  civili 
zation  in  news  of  his  decisive  victory  for  honest  old 
Muda  Hassim,  the  Borneo  sultanate's  viceroy  or  band- 
hara,  there,  over  a  horde  of  murderous  rebel  bandits 
who  had  mercilessly  ravaged  the  land  for  several  years. 

Later  came  word  of  his  formal  investment  with  the 
Rajahship  at  Bruni,  the  Borneon  capital,  by  Hamet  Ali, 
and  the  restoration  through  his  influence  of  his  friend, 
the  bandhara,  to  the  royal  favor  he  had  temporarily  lost 
by  his  misadventures  with  the  rebel  Dyaks  :  his  benefi 
cent  rule  at  his  own  capital  city  of  Kuchin  ;  lifting  the 
merciless  Malayan  slavery  of  ages  from  the  patient 
shoulders  of  the  simple-hearted  aborigines,  and  making 
of  them  loyal  co-workers  in  opening  all  the  varied  riches 
of  their  mighty  island  to  the  commercial  world ;  his 
fearless  missions  of  humanity  to  savage  Sumatra,  as 
well  as  in  Borneo,  for  the  deliverance  of  captive  passen- 


A  CASE  IN  CHANCERY.  47 

gers  and  crews  of  merchantmen  from  their  piratical 
despoilers  ;  and,  latest,  his  accompaniment  of  Captain 
Keppel's  expedition  as  volunteer  guide,  counsel  and 
sturdy  fighter,  when  Her  Christian  Majesty's  govern 
ment  had  finally  been  persuaded  to  avenge  immemorial 
outrages  against  British  commerce,  by  inflicting  signal 
punishment  upon  the  piratical  Shereefs  of  the  swarming 
Sarebas  and  Sakarran  rivers. 

The  merchant  had  an  interest  in  such  exploits  as 
these  no  less  than  the  moralist ;  for  supplementary  to 
the  story  of  the  Christian  Rajah's  deeds  were  sanguine 
prophecies  of  the  new  sources  of  commercial  wealth  to 
be  available  in  the  Indies,  since  there  was  now  estab 
lished  a  civilized  power  at  a  commanding  point,  to  open 
and  protect  hitherto  virgin  regions  of  the  most  valuable 
products  of  the  tropics.  Wild  tales  of  endless  diamonds, 
gold  and  coal  were  in  circulation  ;  not  to  speak  of  un 
limited  fresh  fields  for  coffee,  opium  and  nutmeg  culture. 
The  United  States  shared  in  the  credulity  of  the  hour  ; 
and  its  shippers,  especially  those  already  in,  or  having 
important  relations  with,  the  India  trade,  were  prompt 
to  enlist  their  government  and  themselves  in  efforts  to 
make  the  most  of  an  apparently  golden  opportunity. 

Mr.  Emngham  was  an  early  participant  in  the  feeling. 
Born  and  educated  to  lead  an  affluent  life  of  leisure,  at 
his  majority  he  could  not  resist  the  national  magnetism 
of  business  purpose.  Some  time  in  the  twentieth  cen 
tury  may  possibly  find  in  the  American  metropolis  an 
unemployed  aristocratic  class  of  sufficient  firmness  of 
root  and  naturalness  of  growtli  to  require  no  con 
strained  seclusive  cultivation  for  the  sure  retention  of 
accessions  appropriately  its  own.  In  Mr.  Effingham's 
youth  the  primitive  provincial  beginning  of  such  a  social 
factor  could  barely  generate  enough  of  a  special  foster 
ing  and  protecting  atmosphere  to  sustain  its  own  first 


48  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

meagre  proportions  ;  and  the  consequent  tendency  of  its 
every  fresh  shoot  possessing  any  native  vigor  at  all, 
was  to  assimilate  with  the  commercial  utilitarianism  of 
the  hardy  young  field  of  national  life  growing  swiftly 
all  around  it.  Our  scion  of  moneyed  leisure  was  men 
tally,  if  not  physically,  robust  and  elastic.  Immediately 
upon  becoming  his  own  master  he  passed  unreservedly 
into  the  full  whirl  of  business  life,  and  to  such  effect  that, 
while  yet  on  the  right  side  of  his  fiftieth  year,  the  rich 
ness  of  his  harvest  justified  him  in  thinking  of  retire 
ment  for  the  repair  of  a  never  perfect  health.  Then, 
however,  occurred  the  East  Indian  fever  and  the  sudden 
celebration  of  Borneo.  The  Coinanclie  was  building  for 
Mr.  Emngham's  house,  and  it  suggested  itself  to  the  ship 
ping  merchant,  after  many  consultations  with  his  older 
friend,  Yon  Gilder,  that  he  could  not  more  happily  con 
join  sanitary  policy  with  an  esthetic  climax  of  a  com 
mercial  career,  than  by  going  with  his  family,  on  his 
own  new  vessel,  upon  a  luxurious  trip  to  the  East,  by 
way  of  England  and  Madeira,  for  a  deliberate  personal 
inspection  of  Kajah  Brooke's  regenerated  Golconda. 

This  much  antedated  narrative  is  necessary  as  ex 
planatory  natural  perspective  for  our  characters  now  in 
the  foreground. 

By  request  of  the  host  of  "  The  Straits  "  the  Ameri 
can  merchant,  while  the  ladies  were  awaiting  their 
caller,  had  followed  a  servant  to  the  private  managerial 
office  of  the  hotel,  where,  lingering  longer  than  he 
realized  in  the  ante-room,  to  read  over  the  names  of 
some  volumes  of  old  New  York  newspapers,  gazetteers, 
and  commercial  reports,  there  ranged  in  a  glass  case, 
he  was  surprised  by  the  unusual  manner  of  Mr.  Dodge's 
quickly  attending  advent. 

Coming  rapidly  along  the  hall,  with  his  arms  briskly 
swinging  back  and  forth  over  his  chest,  in  the  sweeping 


A  CASE  IN  CHANCERY.  49 

movement  so  popular  with  hardy  cabmen  and  steve 
dores  when  they  would  "get  up  a  little  circulation, "  the 
Correspondent  in  Singapore  had  leaped  high  in  the  open 
doorway  to  a  powerful  finger-hold  upon  the  outer  ledge  of 
the  casement,  drawn  himself  up,  with  rigidly-bent  knees, 
to  a  pendent  sitting  position,  and  come  down  sharply 
again  upon  the  sill,  before  discovering  that  he  had  a 
spectator. 

"Beg  your  pardon,  really,  Mr.  Effingham,"  he  puffed, 
a  little  abashed.  "I  didn't  expect  to  find  you  here— 
thought  you'd  be  in  the  office.  I  always  feel  so  first- 
rate  after  my  regular  afternoon  nap.  Walk  in,  sir,  walk 
in." 

By  this  time  the  merchant  was  sufficiently  accus 
tomed  to  Mr.  Dodge's  peculiarly  gymnastic  manner  of 
expressing  his  exuberant  constitutional  superiority  to 
a  tropical  climate  for  a  fairly  philosophical  assumption 
of  resignation  to  it. 

"You  certainly  do  appear  to  be  fortunately  organized 
for  the  neighborhood  of  the  Equator,"  he  remarked,  as 
they  proceeded  to  their  conference  in  the  farther  room. 
"  That  boy  of  mine  has  rather  a  tendency  in  the  same 
way,  I  think.  By-the-by,  I  hope  he  's  in  no  mischief?" 

"  Well,"  said  the  younger  man,  reflectively,  "  I  think 
I  did  hear  from  somebody  that  he'd  been  bitten  by  one 
of  the  monkeys  in  our  temporary  zoological  collection 
out  back  of  the  house,  and  was  next  seen  hanging 
bodily  on  to  the  cue  of  one  of  my  Chinese  chamber- 
men.  I  don't  think  the  Equator  '11  hurt  him  much." 

A  troubled  smile  was  the  fatherly  recognition  of  this 
assurance.  Cherubino  was  a  much-jointed  filial  com 
bination  of  pipe-stem  legs  and  arms,  pinned  together 
with  a  head,  particular  responsibility  for  whom  was 
tacitly  shifted  by  either  misgiving  parent  upon  the 
other,  until  Miss  Ankeroo  and  the  human  family  at 


50  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

large  were  anguished  under  the  unrelieved  vivacity  of 
his  fullest  American  small-boyhood. 

With  a  glance  around  the  cool  office,  whereof  a  stand 
ing  desk,  founded  on  a  system  of  pigeon-holes,  a  table, 
two  rattan  chairs,  several  maps  pasted  on  the  thin  walls 
an  iron  "  safe,"  and  a  large  Dyak  mat,  were  the  furni 
ture,  Mr.  Effingham  settled  into  his  usual  practical 
aspect. 

"  To  go  on,  now,"  he  resumed,  "  with  the  subject  of  a 
previous  conversation,  I've  understood  you  to  say  that 
a  Dutch  brig  here  in  ballast,  and  suitable  to  my  purpose, 
can  be  chartered." 

"  Exactly  so  ;  I  've  opened  negotiations  for  her.  But 
you  might  have  gone  up  either  river,  sir,  to  Bruni,  or  to 
Kuchin,  with  the  Comanche  herself  for  that  matter. 
Sir  Thomas  Cochrane's  men-of-war  out  in  the  offing  here 
now — the  Agincourt,  Vixen,  Pluto,  Nemesis,  and  so  on— 
are  all  going  up  to  Bruni,  they  say,  before  long,  with 
Rajah  Brooke,  to  get  back  a  couple  of  shipwrecked 
English  sailors  imprisoned  there  since  the  treaty.  The 
old  Sultan's  a  slippery  customer,  and  there  may  be 
some  fighting  for  you  to  see,  if  you  stay  in  Borneo  long 
enough.  As  for  the  Sarawak  River,  Sir  Edward 
Belcher's  frigate  Samarang,  and  Keppel's  Dido,  both 
found  six  fathoms  of  water  at  ebb  spring-tide  within 
biscuit-toss  of  the  Rajah's  house." 

Mr.  Dodge's  glibness  of  information  surprised  his 
hearer. 

"You  appear  to  be  very  familiar  with  Borneo,"  said 
Mr.  Effingham. 

"Why,"  rejoined  the  other,  "it's  only  a  little  over 
four  hundred  miles  from  here  to  Kuchin,  and  I've  been 
there  several  times,  on  Mr.  Brooke's  own  antimony 
schooner,  the  Swift,  to  go  up  the  country,  for  a  way, 
after  animals.  There  is  an  odd  sort  of  old  Englishman 


.  ~ 


A  CASE  IN  CHANCER7.  51 

living  up  there — a  doctor  and  naturalist,  and  queer 
genius  generally — who's  got  a  living  orang-outang  that 
I  'm  bound  to  have  yet  for  Mr.  Barnum,  if  it  costs  a 
fortune." 

"And  you  think,"  pursued  the  merchant,  gravely 
ignoring  this  branch  of  discovery,  "  that  the  feasibility 
of  immediate  coffee  culture  in  that  region  has  been 
exaggerated?" 

"I  don't  believe  in  it  myself,"  answered  Mr.  Dodge, 
confidently.  "Look  at  Rajah  Brooke  himself,  how  he 
sticks  to  his  antimony  ore,  even  though  some  Chinamen 
are  trenching  a  diamond  mine  for  him  at  a  place  called 
Suntah,  up  the  Sarawak,  and  he  owns  an  opium  farm 
two  hours'  walk  from  Kuchin.  Gold  and  tin  and  dia 
monds  may  be  all  there,  as  they  say ;  but  my  idea  is  that 
there  "s  more  money  in  rice,  antimony  and  sago.  There's 
coal  there,  too,  undoubtedly.  But  what  should  you  say 
to  nutmegs,  now  ?"  suggested  the  versatile  Felix,  lean 
ing  toward  his  attentive  auditor,  a  hand  on  either  knee, 
with  abrupt  access  of  animation. 

"I  shall  be  pleased  to  hear  your  own  opinion  of 
them,"  remarked  Mr.  Emngham,  with  a  smile. 

"There's  money  in  nutmegs!"  continued  this  off 
hand  commercial  cyclopedia,  energetically.  "On  Pe- 
nang,  up  the  Strait  here,  one  gentleman  has  cleared 
fourteen  thousand  pounds  in  a  year  by  them.  Seventy 
years  ago,  when  the  East  India  Company  had  a  port  at 
Balambangan,  in  the  northernmost  notch  of  Borneo, 
they  sent  a  ship  to  hunt  for  nutmegs  in  jSTew  Guinea ; 
yet  right  along  the  coast,  not  far  north  of  Sarawak,  is 
the  island  of  Sumpudin,  with  wild  nutmegs  growing  on 
it  as  thick  as  hops.  You  see,  sir,  they  need  salt  air.  If 
I  was  in  the  planting  way  myself,  I  'd  rent  that  island 
from  Hamet  AH  and  go  into  the  cultivation  at  once.  It 
could  be  had  for  a  song.  There  are  your  canary  trees 


52  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

all  ready  to  shade  your  shoots  while  you  are  turning 
your  wild  nutmegs  into  the  eatable  kind ;  and,"  added 
the  host  of  "  The  Straits,"  with  a  concluding  triumph 
ant  wave  of  his  hands,  "you  can  hire  all  your  labor 
done  by  Chinamen  ready  to  work  for  their  mere  bread — 
and  Buddha  !" 

By  way  of  dignified  rebuke  to  his  correspondent's  too 
frequent  paronomastic  infirmity  of  speech,  Mr.  Effing- 
ham  had,  several  times  since  his  arrival,  pointedly  dis 
continued  conversation  at  its  appearance.  With  some 
impatience  of  manner  he  now  ended  the  conference  by 
rising  from  his  chair  for  the  purpose  of  rejoining  the 
ladies. 

And  to  them,  after  the  lapse  of  a  day,  the  story  now 
also  returns. 

Considerate  intercession  by  his  uncle's  warm  friend, 
the  Governor,  and  indulgent  blindness  on  the  part  of 
the  captain  of  the  Cressy,  enabled  the  chivalrous  Eng 
lish  lieutenant  to  devote  himself,  as  he  had  proposed, 
to  the  duty  of  chaperon  of  the  party.  The  head  of  the 
family  went  with  them  in  their  initiatory  round  of  the 
"  City  of  the  Lions,"  to  the  stately  Government  House, 
the  Fortress  on  the  Hill,  the  richly-stocked  Botanical 
Gardens,  the  famous  Institution  of  Oriental  Philology, 
and  even  shared  their  unsatisfactory  exterior  viewing  of 
such  jealously  exclusive  attractions  as  the  Mosque  and 
the  Buddhist  and  Hindoo  Temples.  At  that  point, 
however,  he  relinquished  the  squiredom  of  dames 
almost  wholly  to  their  assiduous  young  cavalier ;  the 
while  he  and  Mr.  Dodge  were  occupied  in  supervising 
the  outfit  of  the  brig  Weltevreden  for  Borneo,  and  ac 
quiring  requisite  information  from  friendly  acquaint 
ances  in  local  commercial  circles. 

At  all  the  dinner-parties  to  which  they  were  hospita 
bly  invited  during  their  sojourn,  whether  given  by  polite 


A  CASE  IN  CHAyCERY.  53 

official  households  or  those  of  neighborly  merchants,  the 
Effiughams  were  sure  to  meet  Beknore.  With  boj'-like 
thoughtlessness  of  anything  savoring  of  tact,  the  hand 
some  sailor  made  it  obvious  to  the  least  observant  eye 
that  it  was  the  delight  of  his  life  to  be  with  them  on  any 
and  ever}*  occasion ;  and  if  Miss  Effinghain,  in  the  usu 
ally  cool  manner  of  the  sex  in  its  insensate  "teens,  took 
it  all  as  a  matter  of  course,  Miss  Ankeroo  pronounced 
him  a  paragon  of  good,  obliging  boys,  and  Mrs.  Effing- 
ham's  habitual  gentleness  of  demeanor  seemed  }*et  more 
softened  for  him  into  an  approving  motherliness  of  re 
gard  no  less  marked  because  it  was  so  pensive  and 
quiet. 

Accustomed  to  a  yet  more  ardent  summer  sun  in 
their  own  land,  the  American  ladies  were  not  averse  to 
excursions  by  carriage  at  any  hour  of  the  balmy  equa 
torial  day.  Abretta's  piquant  gyps}'  straw  hat,  with 
its  graceful  white  feather  and  veil,  and  Cousin  Sadie's 
unsparing  spectacles,  soon  became  associated  in  the 
popular  mind  with  the  most  detailed  views  possible  to 
be  taken  of  every  object  of  interest  in  Singapore  by 
foreign  eyes.  For  Miss  Ankeroo?s  particular  benefit 
there  were  visits  to  the  mission  and  Chinese  schools, 
and  a  trip  into  the  interior  of  the  island  as  far  as  the 
Jesuit  missionary  village  of  Bukit-tima. 

"While  Mr.  Effingham  was  across  some  bridge,  among 
the  counting-houses  on  the  more  mercantile  side  of  the 
river  of  the  town,  intent  on  matters  of  business,  his  tire 
less  deputy  was  taking  mother,  daughter,  cousin — and 
sometimes  unavoidable  son — on  picturesque  sails,  be 
tween  shores  of  mangroves,  up  the  Peloi  way  ;  escort 
ing  them  through  the  curious  omnium  gatherum  of 
Chinese  or  Kling  bazar,  guarding  them  along  the 
original  Malayan  town,  or  Campong  Glani,  built  on 
water-washed  pties,  and  most  comfortable  to  inspect 


54  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

from  a  flat-bottomed  sampan  ;  there  to  see  a  trading 
pralm  from  the  Moluccas,  whose  every  plank,  mast, 
sail,  rope,  oar  and  awning  was  made  from  the  cocoanut 
tree,  and  whose  whole  cargo — oil  to  burn  at  night,  and 
food  and  "grog"  to  consume  by  day — were  all  of  the 
same  generous  and  stately  palm.  His  was  the  familiar 
ized  intelligence  to  aid  their  discrimination  and  appre 
ciation  of  even  a  greater  variety  of  nationalities  and 
costumes,  in  the  streets  and  on  the  drives,  than  they 
had  wondered  at  in  Batavia — plump  and  thrifty  bare 
headed  Chinese  merchants,  in  ample  white  smocks  and 
trousers  of  blue,  with  long  cues  tipped  gayly  with  red 
silk ;  gaunt  Klings  from  Western  India,  in  turbans  and 
zouave-like  dresses ;  Arabs,  in  flowing  white  robes ; 
yellow-faced  Malays,  in  many-colored  open  jackets, 
wearing  the  inevitable  deadly  kris  in  the  gatherings  of 
their  sarong,  or  native  kilt ;  Portuguese  clerks  and 
shopmen,  in  their  favorite  white ;  Bugis  traders  from 
Celebes— the  Yankees  of  the  Archipelago— in  half- 
European,  half-Malayan  attire ;  Parsees,  Javanese,  Ben- 
galese,  Coolies ;  Englishmen,  in  the  invariable  tight 
coats,  waistcoats  and  trousers  of  their  kind  for  any  cli 
mate,  and  an  occasional  uniform  from  the  garrison  on 
Pearl  Hill  or  the  frigates  in  the  harbor. 

An  association  of  this  daily  practical  character  be 
tween  the  young  man  and  his  fair  charges,  prefaced,  as 
it  had  been,  by  an  instinctive  common  liking,  could  not 
fail  to  engender  an  intimacy  of  feeling  more  likely  to 
endure  than  if  it  had  sprung  from  any  other  experience 
of  social  travel.  The  habit,  on  the  one  hand,  of  finding 
a  delightful  new  pleasure  in  accustomed  things,  from 
being  able  to  show  them  for  the  first  time  to  immedi 
ately  appreciative  minds ;  and,  on  the  other,  of  depend 
ing  exclusively  upon  an  individual  intelligence  for  the 
guidance  of  every  untried  step  and  novel  perception — 


A  CASE  IN  CHANCERY.  55 

is  always  more  or  less  subtly  implicatory  of  a  mutual 
relation  much  closer  than  that  of  any  ordinary  ac 
quaintance.  Thence  Belmore  and  the  Effinghams  un 
consciously  blended  into  one  family,  as  it  were,  during 
these  pleasant  days  at  Singapore ;  and  as  unconscious 
were  they  all  that  something  especially  in  the  involun 
tary  magnetism  of  the  tactiturn  Mrs.  Effingham's  per 
manent  manner  toward  the  youthful  naval  officer,  went 
farther  than  any  other  factor  to  open  his  inmost  heart 
to  them. 

One  evening  in  their  room  at  the  hotel,  after  a  some 
what  fatiguing  trip  to  the  gambir  plantations  and  tiger- 
pits  of  the  northern  part  of  the  narrow  island,  returning 
from  which  they  had  caught  sight  of  the  Constitution, 
with  studding  sails  set  aloft  and  below,  standing  out  of 
the  Roads  for  Borneo  and  an  answer  to  her  diplomatic 
mission ;  while  the  music  of  the  garrison  band  sounded 
in  final  cadence  through  the  window-casements  from  the 
Parade,  and  Mr.  Effingham  withdrew  to  the  lower 
balcony  for  a  post-prandial  cigar — a  pause  in  the  con 
versation  started  by  Miss  Ankeroo  on  the  merits  of  the 
agar-agar  jelly  of  sea-weed,  shellfish,  soup,  rice  and  hot 
vegetables  sold  by  the  criers  in  the  street,  was  succeeded 
by  an  irrelative  exclamation  from  our  domesticated 
Lieutenant : 

"  What  a  nuisance  it  is  to  be  poor !" 

"Well,  now,"  rejoined  Miss  Ankeroo,  "  of  all  places 
in  the  world  to  say  that  in,  this  is  the  last !  Think  of 
that  Jesuit  missionary  at  Bukit-tima  being  'passing 
rich  on'  thirty  '  pounds  a  year. '  I  'm  told  that  one  sago 
palm,  only  needing  to  be  chopped  down,  is  ample  twelve 
months'  food  for  a  hearty  man ;  and  here  in  Singapore 
you  can  buy  a  good  meal  at  any  corner  for  three  pence !" 

"I  mean  that  I  wish  my  family  had  what  rightfully 
belongs  to  it,"  resumed  Belmore,  with  an  audible  sigh. 


56  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  "When  I  noticed  this  afternoon  that  you  ladies  were 
made  homesick  by  seeing  that  frigate  move  off,  I  thought 
of  my  own  home  in  England,  and  my  uncle — and  then 
about  our  estate  in  Chancery." 

"Your  uncle,  I  think  you  have  told  us,  is  stationed 
here,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham  casually. 

"For  the  time,  ma'am.  You  know  these  'Straits 
Settlements,'  as  they  are  called,  are  subordinate  to  the 
presidency  of  Bengal.  Uncle  William  is  only  tempora 
rily  transferred  here ;  he  has  been  for  years  in  India. 
I  'in  staying  at  his  quarters  up  on  the  Hill,  but  he  's  on 
a  visit  to  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Brooke,  in  Borneo.  You 
see,  Mr.  Brooke's  financial  agent,  Mr.  Henry  Wise, 
came  here  from  England,  and  Uncle  arid  he  went  to 
Sarawak  together." 

"  How  I  do  long  to  see  the  Rajah  of  Sarawak  !"  cried 
Abretta.  Then  added,  with  quick  revulsion  to  a  sub 
ject  even  more  immediately  congenial  to  her  imagina 
tion,  "I  should  think,  Mr.  Belmore,  that  you  would 
prefer  some  profession  allowing  you  to  stay  at  home  and 
look  after  y our  fortune. " 

"That's  just  where  it  is,  Miss  Emngham  !"  con 
tinued  he  excitedly,  moving  his  chair  nearer  to  hers. 
"  This  happens  to  be  the  very  part  of  the  world  where 
Uncle  Will  and  I  must  look  for  a  solution  of  our  troubles 
— that  is,  if  there  is  any  hope  anywhere." 

Here  the  startling  diversion  of  a  juvenile  snore  from 
beneath  the  settee  was  a  jarring  revelation  that  Master 
Cherubino  had  been  overtaken  by  heavy  slumber  there, 
while  undoubtedly  seeking  surreptitious  auditory  under 
the  common  infantile  conviction  that  to  be  an  unknown 
and  undesired  presence  to  one's  elders  is  to  be  happy ; 
and  he  was  promptly  grated  forth  by  Miss  Ankeroo  and 
summarily  escorted  by  her  toward  his  own  supplement>r- 
ary  chamber,  in  that  dazed  condition  of  mind  and  speech 


A  CASE  W  CHANCERY.  57 

which  is  peculiar  to  the  rudely  interrupted  repose  of 
dreamless  childhood. 

"Why,  Mr.  Belmore,"  pursued  Abretta,  too  much 
interested  for  even  a  pardonable  sisterly  interjection, 
"it  seems  strange  that  an  estate  in  the  English  Court 
of  Chancery  should  have  anything  to  do  with  the  East 
Indies." 

Mrs.  Effingham  now  interposed  : 

"My  daughter!" 

"Don't  object,  Mrs.  Effingham,  please,"  pleaded  the 
young  man,  earnestly.  "It's  very  good  in  her — and 
you  all — to  show  an  interest  in  a  poor  fellow's  affairs. 
Quite  a  romance  it  is,  too,  if  you  '11  allow  me  to  tell 
what  I  know  about  it." 

"  Oh,  do  !"  was  the  impulsive  response  of  his  younger 
auditor— and  that  was  enough. 

"  This  is  the  way  of  it,  ladies,"  continued  he,  speaking 
rapidly :  "  I  have  already  told  you  that  my  great-grand 
father — the  grandfather  of  my  mother  and  Uncle  Will 
— was  a  very  eccentric  kind  of  man.  My  great-grand 
mother,  whom  he  married  in  America,  was  his  second 
wife.  His  first  was  English,  from  Devonshire,  and  died 
while  their  only  son  was  a  baby.  That  was  my  grand- 
uncle  Roderick,  and  we  hardly  ever  mention  him  now. 
except  when  telling  the  story.  He  and  his  father  must 
have  been  very  much  alike,  for  they  both  loved  each 
other  dearly,  and  never  agreed,  and  at  last  hated  each 
other." 

"  That  is  apt  to  be  the  case,  indeed,"  remarked  Mrs. 
Effingham  quietly. 

"Yes:  the  ultimate  antagonism  of  likes,  I  suppose 
philosophers  would  call  it.  The  family  estate,  and  very 
valuable,  too,  is  not  far  from  Reigate,  in  Surrey ;  and  a 
much  more  secluded,  wild  place  than  you  'd  think  from 
the  nearness  to  London.  After  the  death  of  Roderick's 


58  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

mother,  my  great-grandfather  went  roving  all  over  the 
face  of  the  globe,  leaving  his  son  to  be  brought  up  by 
servants  and  schoolmasters.  When,  finally,  he  brought 
my  great-grandmother  home  with  him  from  America, 
and  the  lad  showed  jealousy,  he  caressed  him  like  a 
dotard,  and  said,  over  and  over  again,  that  it  was  only 
to  secure  him  a  renewal  of  a  mother's  care  that  he  him 
self  had  married  again  at  all.  As  I  was  saying  the  other 
day,  I  'm  afraid  my  great-grandfather  was  not  half  good 
enough  for  his  American  wife." 

"  Then  why  did  she  marry  an  Englishman  ?"  broke 
in  Miss  Effingharn  hotly. 

Again  the  motherly  remonstrance :  "  My  daughter  !" 
"  Oh,  never  mind,  ma'am,  if  she  will  be  so  hard  on 
us,"  momentarily  disconcerted.  "  But,  to  proceed  with 
the  story :  As  time  went  on,  and  my  great-uncle  Sidney 
and  grandfather  were  born,  Roderick  grew  up  to  have  a 
taste  in  his  turn  for  roving  about  the  world.  In  spite  of 
his  father's  wishes,  he  never  gave  any  sign  of  settling 
at  home  again  until  Sidney  had  a  commission  in  the 
army  ;  and  then  he  brought  home  with  him  from  a  reck 
less  sort  of  hunting  bout  somewhere  in  Ireland,  the 
wildest  kind  of  a  wild  Irishman,  whom  he  had  rescued 
from  death  at  the  hands  of  his  own  people  for  '  inform 
ing  '  or  '  warning  '  an  unpopular  landlord,  or  something 
in  that  line.  We  've  never,  any  of  us,  known  exactly 
what  it  was.  The  man's  name  was  Ruadh  Something- 
or-other.  Uncle  Will  says  that  his  father,  Sidney,  you 
know,  could  remember  him  as  a  regular  curiosity  of  uii- 
civilization — red-haired  from  head  to  foot,  they  said, 
like  a  shaggy  dog,  and  scarcely  more  than  an  unreason 
ing,  devoted  kind  of  animal,  as  the  family  thought.  He 
was  to  be  the  cause  of  no  end  of  mischief.  He  took  to 
my  great-grandfather  at  once,  with  as  extravagant  a 
devotion  as  to  his  younger  master,  and  they  let  him  be 


A  CASE  IN  CHANCERY.  59 

a  sort  of  gardener,  man-of-all-work,  body-servant,  and 
pretty  much  everything  else  he  chose,  in  that  carelessly- 
ordered  house  ;  but,  from  the  very  first,  he  seemed  to 
entertain  a  brute-like,  jealous  aversion  to  my  grand 
father  and  his  brother  Sidney.  My  great-grandmother 
died ;  my  grandfather  married  a  daughter  of  a  captain 
in  the  navy,  with  only  his  pay,  against  the  prejudices 
of  the  old  gentleman,  and  grand-uncle  Sidney  took  his 
part.  Then  he  cast  them  both  off,  my  great-grand 
father  did,  you  know,  and  he  and  Koderick  and  Ruadh 
formed  a  mutual  admiration  society  by  themselves." 

"How  unnatural !"  murmured  Abretta. 

"Not  for  their  kind,  you  know,"  went  on  Belmore. 
"  They  were  three  odd  mortals  together.  But  it  didn't 
last.  Some  money  question  brought  all  the  love  between 
parent  and  favorite  son  to  grief  with  a  grand  blow-up, 
and  Roderick  went  tearing  away  from  home  in  an  awful 
rage,  while  his  father  fell  down  in  a  bad  fit.  As  the 
other  servants  of  the  house  subsequently  testified,  from 
that  time  forth  Ruadh  dogged  his  aged  master's  every 
step,  slept  at  his  room-door  at  night,  and  seemed  to  be 
wholly  under  control  of  some  unspoken  instinct  of  fear 
for  him. 

"  Word  presently  came  that  Roderick  was  in  Amster 
dam,  and  that  his  half-brother  Sidney,  Uncle  Will's 
father,  you  know,  was  about  to  marry.  Characteristic 
ally  enough,  the  old  gentleman  took  the  latter  piece  of 
news  with  comparative  unconcern,  but  broke  forth  into 
renewed  fearful  rage  against  his  first-born,  whom  he 
cursed  for  deserting  him.  You  see  what  his  consistency 
was.  Finally,  he  had  another  terrible  fit,  and,  upon  re 
viving  from  it,  only  to  be  warned  by  his  physician  that 
he  had  but  a  few  days  more  to  live,  sent  in  hot  haste  for 
a  lawyer,  with  the  avowed  intention  of  cutting  off 
Roderick  with  a  shilling. 


60  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"He  was  perfectly  clear-headed  when  the  lawyer 
came,  and,  in  a  strong  voice,  ordered  him  to  draw  up, 
on  the  spot,  a  will  leaving  everything  in  equal  parts  to 
my  grandfather  and  Uncle  Will's  father,  calling  the 
physician  also  to  witness  his  intention.  The  instru 
ment  was  drawn,  read  to  him,  and  the  housekeeper 
summoned  to  be  a  second  witness.  Meanwhile  Ruadh 
knelt  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  silent  and  crossing  himself. 
The  paper  was  placed  before  the  dying  man  on  a  book, 
he  was  raised  up  by  the  doctor  and  the  lawyer,  and  he 
signed.  The  lawyer  had  hardly  carried  the  will  to  a 
table,  and  the  housekeeper  was  signing,  when  an  omi 
nous  sound  from  the  bed  drew  them  all  back  thither  in 
breathless  alar'm.  My  great-grandfather  was  dead  in 
five  minutes,  and  no  one  has  ever  seen  that  will  again 
to  this  day !" 

Lieutenant  Belmore  discontinued  his  rapidly-spoken 
recital  for  a  moment  to  take  breath  and  change  position. 

"A  strange  piece  of  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the 
lawyer,  I  should  think,"  said  Mrs.  Emngham,  mechani 
cally  ;  "  but  it  must  have  left  all  three  of  the  sons  equal 
heirs  then." 

"  I  'm  sure  that  creature  Ruadh  had  something  to  do 
with  it,"  was  the  more  characteristic  remark  of  the 
daughter. 

"  Oh,  don't  you  spoil  my  little  romance  by  anticipa 
ting  me,  Miss  Emngham  !  Yes,  Ruadh  and  the  will 
had  gone  off  together ;  and  not  only  that,  but  a  lot  of 
title-deeds,  some  money,  and  the  first  sheet  of  grand- 
uncle  Roderick's  offending  letter  from  Amsterdam  were 
also  missing  from  a  partly-rifled  secretary  in  the  bed 
chamber.  These,  though,  must  have  been  abstracted 
before  the  day  of  the  death,  and— as  equally  important 
papers  were  left  behind— without  any  intelligent  know 
ledge  of  their  relative  values.  That  is,  all  except  the 


4  CASE  IN  CSANOEEY.  61 

part  of  the  letter.  The  fellow  must  have  taken  that  for 
the  address." 

"  Could  he  read  ?"  asked  Abretta. 

"Kot  a  syllable,"  continued  Belmore ;  "he  must 
have  done  it  by  instinct.  And,  more,  he  could  have 
known  only  in  the  dimmest  sort  of  way  that  the  dying 
will  meant  harm  to  the  absent  master  possessing  his 
brute-love.  But  you  are  wrong,  Mrs.  Emngham,  about 
the  equal  inheritance  left.  In  the  same  secretary  I  'm 
talking  about  was  found  an  earlier  will,  disinheriting 
my  grandfather  and  Uncle  Will's  father  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Koderick." 

"  I  'in  telling  this  story  awfully,"  went  on  the  young 
man,  his  voice  sinking  disconsolately.  "I  know  I 'm 
making  a  mull  of  it,  with  all  its  '  greats  '  and  '  grands  ' 
and  that  sort  of  thing.  Uncle  Will  does  it  a  great  deal 
better ;  but  I  'm  near  the  end  now. 

"You  needn't  be  told  that  when,  almost  instantly 
after  the  sudden  death-scene,  the  hardly-yet-dry  will 
was  missed  from  the  table,  and  the  Irish  factotum  no 
where  to  be  seen,  those  interested  knew  how  to  put  two 
and  two  together.  Within  forty-eight  hours,  however, 
a  letter  came  from  the  diplomatic  office  in  Holland,  say 
ing  that  Roderick  had  just  died  in  Amsterdam  in  a  fit. 
This  seemed  to  end  all  trouble  about  the  estate — not  an 
entailed  one,  you  '11  understand.  As  a  precaution, 
Euadh  was  traced  by  the  police  to  Reigate  and  London 
and  then  on  board  a  vessel  leaving  Liverpool  for  the 
Zuyder-Zee.  He  had  gone  to  Amsterdam  after  Rode 
rick,  paying  his  way  with  the  stolen  sovereigns. 

"  There  might  have  been  no  farther  particular  care 
for  the  poor  devoted  animal  if,  all  at  once,  just  as  newly- 
married  grand-uncle  Sidney  and  my  grandfather,  sum 
moned  home  from  London,  were  about  entering  into 
their  rights,  a  strange  lady  from  Ireland,  with  a  weakly 


G2  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

infant,  had  not  suddenly  come  forward  as  the  clan 
destinely-married  wife  of  Roderick — with  proper  mar 
riage-lines  to  show,  too— and  claimed  the  estate. 

"  Now  you  can  see  how  it  all  got  into  Chancery.  The 
widow  would  have  all  or  none ;  the  lawyer,  physician 
and  housekeeper  could  swear  to  the  contents  and  sign 
ing  of  the  revocating  instrument ;  but  it  could  not  be 
produced— and  there  was  the  earlier  will,  all  straight 
and  regular.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  Chancery, 
with  a  stated  allowance  for  the  widow  and  babe — they  'd 
been  living  near  London — and  a  renewed  chase  after 
Ruadh.  They  traced  him  again  going  from  Amsterdam 
to  Batavia,  down  here  in  Java,  as  a  Dutch  officer's  ser 
vant,  and  then  into  the  lunatic  department  of  the  mili 
tary  hospital  there ;  gone  mad,  it  was  supposed,  in 
terror  of  the  conjectured  coming  of  our  fleet  if  the  wars 
of  Napoleon  went  on. 

"This  is  why  Uncle  Will  originally  took  service  under 
the  Company  in  India,  after  that  secret  trouble  of  his 
in  the  United  States.  He  has  ascertained.,  beyond  a 
doubt,  that  Ruadh  certainly  escaped  from  the  hospital 
and  managed  to  get  to  Sambas,  just  south  of  Sarawak, 
in  Borneo,  when  it  was  sure  England  could  take  Bata 
via  ;  and  that  he  always  had  with  him,  and  took  with 
him,  an  oilskin  packet,  worn  next  his  shaggy  breast, 
perpetually,  and  secured  by  a  cord  around  the  neck. 
The  hospital  officials  supposed  it  to  be  some  kind  of 
'charm,'  and,  as  he  was  harmless  in  his  lunacy,  never 
took  it  from  him — but  it  must  have  been  the  will  and 
the  other  papers. 

"From  Sambas,  where  the  Dutch  have  some  foot 
hold,  we  have  not  been  able  to  get  the  slightest  hint  of 
his  fate.  He  went  there  in  a  Malay  prahu,  in  which  he 
had  taken  refuge  when  flying  from  the  hospital.  So 
our  family  romance  has  stood  in  all  the  years  since. 


A  CASE  IN  CHANCERY.  63 

The  widow  died,  though  her  son  is  living  yet,  I  believe, 
in  spite  of  his  weakliness.  My  grandfather,  my  mother 
and  Uncle  Will's  father  are  all  gone,  too.  But  my  uncle 
will  never  give  up,  and  I  think  he  's  infected  me  a  little 
with  the  same  infatuation.  At  any  rate,  it's  enough  of 
a  romance,  you  know,  to  be  kept  alive  for  the  credit  of 
the  name." 

The  long-drawn  breaths  of  his  auditors  in  the  dark 
ening  room,  gave  evidence  that  the  story  thus  ending 
had  worked  adequately  upon  their  silent  fancies.  Against 
the  clearer  dimness  of  the  air  beyond  one  of  the  open 
windows  two  graceful  feminine  heads  and  shadowy 
forms  could  be  discerned ;  the  gentleman  sitting  close 
by,  with  his  face  to  them  and  the  casement. 

"Mr.  Belmore,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham  in  a  low,  mea 
sured  tone  of  speaking  re  very,  "  you  have  not  mentioned 
the  name  of  your  great-grandfather." 

"  Have  I  not  ?"  he  returned  surprisedly.  "  Perhaps 
that  was  my  modesty,  ma'am — I  'm  named  after  him. 
He  was  Sir  Edwin — knighted  for  carrying  up  a  loyal 
address  sometime — Sir  Edwin  Daryl." 

"Oh!" 

There  was  such  a  pause  before  Mrs.  Effingham  re 
turned  this  commonplace  sign  of  attention,  that  both  of 
her  companions  glanced  at  her  more  particularly.  They 
saw  only  that  she  was  looking  away  from  them  toward 
the  not  remote  water  view  beginning  to  sparkle  under  a 
rising  moon,  where  lights  were  coming  upon  prahu  and 
ship-of-war,  near  and  distant,  like  remembrances  of  a 
far  past  kindling  slowly  in  the  retrospective  first  watch 
of  the  night. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

FRIEND,    OR  FOE? 

THE  city  of  Bruni  ("The  Bravest"),  or  Borneo, 
whence  Portuguese  navigators  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century  extended  the  name  to  the  whole  immense  island, 
called  by  its  own  people  Pulo  Kalamantan,  has  been 
described  under  the  simile  of  a  barbarian  Cybele  rising 
sullenly  from  the  waters.  In  the  last  thirty-five  years  it 
must  have  undergone  much  change  and  modernization 
by  neighborly  community  with  the  rapid  development 
of  European  civilization  in  Sarawak ;  but  at  the  time 
herein  treated  of  the  Borneon  Venice,  with  its  two  or 
three  thousand  houses,  and,  perhaps,  five  times  that 
number  of  inhabitants,  was  yet  one  of  the  rudest  and 
fiercest  cities  of  the  lawless  Malay.  Spreading  from  a 
noble  amphitheatre  of  swelling  green  hills  to  the  shore 
of  the  wide,  deep  river  of  the  same  name,  the  fifteen 
feet  rise  and  fall  of  that  massive  water,  combined  with 
the  tides  of  several  smaller  streams  confluencing  it  at 
that  point,  gave  the  town  the  usual  Malayan  character 
istic  of  seeming  to  rise  from  the  sea ;  its  buildings  being 
elevated  upon  piles,  and  its  many  tortuous  highways 
and  byways  practicable  to  be  traversed  only  in  boats. 
The  long,  rambling  white  Palace,  however,  with  its 
surroundings  of  barracks  and  offices,  stood  back  upon 
one  of  the  cleared  hillsides  overlooking  the  great  level 
stretch  of  the  jagged  palm-leaf  roofs  and  boat-dotted 
streets  of  savage  Bruni,  and  upon  an  adjacent  elevation, 
yet  higher,  appeared  a  structure  that,  if  as  barbaric,  was 
more  imposing. 

As  the  latter  is  the  architectural  object  immediately 
6* 


FRIEND,   OR  FOE?  65 

interesting  us,  it  may  be  more  particularly  mentioned 
as  having  from  the  town  below  an  aspect  of  at  least  a 
hundred  feet  of  one-story  whitened  front,  with  a  steep- 
peaked  roof  of  great  interlapping  Xypa  palm-leaves ; 
standing  upon  a  terrace  serrated  with  dingy  six-pounder 
cannons,  and  flanked  by  two  little  summer-houses  with 
conical  tops.  Upon  ascending  the  difficult  intervening 
acclivity,  however,  the  seeming  terrace  was  found  to  be 
a  substantial  stockade  of  heavy  stakes  and  a  tenacious 
triangular  embankment  of  mixed  soil  and  rattan,  in 
closing  the  whole  building  in  a  defensive  square  some 
six  feet  high ;  the  summer-houses  were  watch-towers  at 
the  corners,  connected  by  a  parapet  walk,  and  occupied 
by  sentries  with  alarm-gongs,  while  the  long,  irregular 
building  itself,  decked  with  a  deep  veranda  on  which 
glittered  two  brass  guns  taken  from  some  crippled  mer 
chantman,  was  lifted  bodily  to  the  height  of  the  palisade 
on  massive  trunks  of  former  trees.  All  over  the  open 
space  within  the  fortifications  stood  or  reclined  groups 
of  a  Kadien  Dyak  body-guard  and  Malayan  officers  ; 
the  latter  in  muslin  turbans  figured  with  gold  thread, 
light-blue  blouses,  petticoated  from  the  waist  by  red 
sarongs,  and  loose  trousers  of  striped  nankeen  ;  the 
former — handsomer  and  fairer  in  complexion — wearing 
head-dresses  of  pheasants'  feathers  set  in  bands  of  flexi 
ble  bark,  red  jackets  padded  to  resist  spears,  white  and 
red  plaided  kilts,  or  sarongs  like  the  Malays',  and  broad 
brass  bands  on  the  wrists,  ankles  and  hanging  from 
either  distended  ear-lobe. '  The  inseparable  betel-box 
hung  at  every  waist.  Two  krisses  were  in  the  sarong 
of  each  officer,  while  the  soldiery,  excepting  one  here 
and  there  with  a  ship's  musket,  carried  tall  oval  shields 
and  long  lances  of  bamboo,  and  bore  the  "parang- 
ihlang,"  or  war-sword,  of  their  race. 
Such  was  the  home  and  virtual  citadel  of  Usop,  a  pu- 


66  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN". 

tative  uncle  of  the  Sultan  of  Borneo,  and  one  of  the 
most  daring  and  powerful  pangerans,  or  princes,  at 
Court.  Like  the  bandhara,  Muda  Hassim,  his  superior, 
and  the  pangerans  Budrudeen  and  Makota,  his  princely 
equals,  this  shrewdly-intelligent  follower  of  the  Prophet 
had  contracted  many  European  ways  from  the  unusual 
British  visitors  to  his  country  in  the  preceding  three 
or  four  years.  He  could  sit  easily  upon  a  chair  instead 
of  a  divan,  drink  wine,  smoke  English  cigars  and 
adroitly  adapt  his  bearing  and  conversational  key  to  the 
level  of  the  respectful  equality  expected  by  those  who 
deemed  themselves  his  superiors  through  civilization. 
Adhering  yet  to  the  chewing  of  betel,  he  also  knew  how 
to  forego  it  on  occasions  of  social  policy.  He  was  a 
middle-aged,  short,  active  Oriental  politician  ;  abler, 
perhaps,  in  secret  scheming  than  in  warlike  action,  but 
capable  of  great  pertinacity  in  both. 

In  a  long,  high  room  with  three  large  windows,  cur 
tained  with  Turkey  red,  and  leading  to  the  veranda,  this 
man  and  a  very  incongruous  guest  were  now  looking 
forth  through  a  casement  intently.  The  apartment  it 
self  was  a  presentment  of  incongruities.  The  partitions 
of  colored  mats  with  a  divan  along  them,  the  matted 
bamboo  floor  and  half-nude  kneeling  Dyak  slaves  around 
the  doorway  were  Oriental  enough  ;  but  about  the  place 
were  scattered  cabin  chairs  and  tables  unmistakably 
European,  and  several  handsome  compasses  and  spy 
glasses  were  hung  from  the  ceiling  by  chains  like  artis 
tic  decorations. 

The  Pangeran,  in  costume  like  that  of  his  nakodahs, 
or  Malay  followers,  outside,  save  that  he  wore  a  dark 
jacket  trimmed  with  gold  lace  and  opening  upon  a  shirt 
of  mail  beneath,  had  a  gaunt,  olive-tinted  face  that, 
with  its  beetling  black  brows,  near-set  eyes  and  retreat 
ing  chin,  had  a  certain  effect  of  cruelty,  notwithstand- 


FRIEND,   OR  FOE?  67 

ing  the  smile  more  habitual  to  it  than  frowns.  His 
companion,  near  whom  he  stood,  occupied  an  English 
chair,  tilted  back  from  the  centre  of  the  window,  and 
held  a  cup  of  smoking  tea  in  his  lap  and  a  long  native 
cigar  between  his  thin,  straight  lips.  For  this  was  an 
Englishman,  in  the  ordinary  summer  dress  of  his 
country  ;  a  black  silk  skull-cap  on  his  head  and  cloth 
slippers  on  his  feet ;  probably  fifty  years  old,  and  stout 
in  figure,  with  a  long,  full  face,  patriarchally  bearded 
and  uniformly  florid,  to  which  gold-framed  spectacles, 
the  cap  and  the  black  hair  hanging  from  the  latter  to 
the  shoulders  gave  a  rather  monkish  tone. 

The  prospect  surveyed  by  these  two  oddly-associated 
men,  gazing  over  the  veranda  and  the  top  of  the  stock 
ade,  included  the  whole  town  and  harbor  of  Bruni  under 
the  searching  sunlight  of  the  dry  monsoon.  Varying 
brownish  tints  of  the  wilderness  of  roofs,  seeming  as 
though  they  might  be  melting  slowly  into  the  watery 
plain  of  their  foundation,  carried  the  eye  gratefully 
from  the  intense  green  of  the  semicircling  hills  to  the 
golden  gleam  of  the  broad  yellow  river,  whereon  a  float 
ing  market  of  hundreds  of  tiny  canoes,  made  picturesque 
by  the  huge  palm  hats  of  their  chattering  market 
women,  and  heaps  of  fruit  and  other  edibles,  was  centre 
to  an  ever-converging,  sluggish  procession  of  sampans, 
trading  prahus  and  Chinese  craft  coming  continually  by 
either  way  of  the  stream.  On  the  opposite  shore,  to 
throw  out  every  color  of  this  characteristic  waterscape 
into  strong  relief,  was  what  seemed  a  lofty  wall  of  ivy- 
green,  being  the  luxuriant  pepper  vine,  covering  the 
trunks  and  intervals  of  tall  mango  trees.  Here  and 
there  on  pile  foundations,  near  the  prahu  anchorage, 
were  forts  of  earthwork  mounted  with  cannon.  Up 
the  river  a  short  distance,  midway  of  the  tide,  the 
blackened  ruins  of  an  ancient  stone  fortress  were  the 


68  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

picturesque  monument  of  a  past  civilization ;  and  from 
down  the  river  seaward  was  approaching  a  great  barge, 
with  high  prow  and  poop,  dingily  black  and  gilt,  rowing 
a  score  of  oars  on  either  side,  and  carrying  on  the  mast 
a  large  yellow  flag. 

To  this  gaudy  vessel  of  state  the  attention  of  the 
spectators  at  the  window  was  principally  directed.  As 
it  came  on  the  guns  of  the  forts  gave  greeting,  and  its 
turning  into  the  natural  canal  leading  to  the  Sultan's 
wharf  was  accompanied  by  clang  of  gongs  and  a  vigor 
ous  beating  of  the  wooden  Malay  drum. 

"Mohammed  and  the  Bandhara  Tumsee  come  back 
from  Pulo  Combong,  with  another  message  from  the 
English  Tuan  Captain  to  the  sublime  Sultan,"  muttered 
Usop. 

"  So  I  take  it,  Pangeran,"  assented  the  Englishman 
phlegmatically,  speaking  also  in  Malayan. 

"  Hamet  Ali  will  not  yield." 

"  That 's  bosh !  as  your  friends  in  Istamboul  say,"  re 
torted  the  other.  "  Sir  Thomas  Cochrane  is  not  the 
kind  of  '  Tuan  '  to  stand  that  style  of  business.  Hamet 
Ali — or  Muda  Hassim  for  him — signed  a  treaty  with  my 
country  not  six  months  ago,  binding  your  government 
to  quit  at  once  and  forever  this  barbarism  of  putting 
shipwrecked  English  sailors  into  your  dungeons ;  and  I 
tell  you,  Pangeran  Usop— I,  Doctor  Lawrence  Hed- 
land,  tell  you,  as  a  sensible  man — that  the  sooner  you 
give  up  those  two  men  whom  you  have  hidden,  the 
safer  you  '11  be  from  guns  able  to  blow  your  whole 
piratical  nest  out  of  the  water." 

"  Was  it  with  your  Queen  or  with  the  Tuan  Besar  that 
this  treaty  was  made  ?"  asked  the  Pangeran  mildly. 

"  With  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  !"  was  the  testy 
response.  "  On  that  occasion,  at  any  rate,  Mr.  Brooke — 
Tuan  Besar,  great  man,  as  you  call  him — came  here  as 


FRIEND,   OR  FOE?  69 

the  accredited  British  agent  to  Borneo,  and  you  must 
keep  faith  with  him  and  Captain  Bethune,  or  you  '11  see 
something  worse  out  here  in  the  river,  before  the  wet 
monsoon,  than  the  Driver  and  her  gunboat." 

The  Malay  prince  sank  noiselessly  to  a  chair,  and 
rolled  a  tobacco  leaf,  handed  him  by  a  kneeling  servi 
tor,  into  a  cigar  for  himself. 

"  The  Tuan  Hedland  does  not  always  wish  the  Faith 
ful  to  make  terms  with  the  English-speaking  stranger," 
he  went  on  as  gently  as  before.  "Only  a  little  time 
ago,  when  those  other  orang  siranis — Christian  men — 
came  here  with  their  ship  from  farther  over  the  great 
sea,  to  ask  a  treaty,  I  was  in  the  surow— audience  room 
— of  the  Sultan's  palace  when  Tuan  Hedland  acted  as 
interpreter." 

Doctor  Hedland's  florid  countenance  turned  a  yet 
warmer  red  at  this,  and  he  tossed  away  cigar  and  tea 
cup  angrily. 

" Those  Americans,"  sputtered  he,  "had  no  business 
here  at  all !  But  you  know,  Pangeran,  that  I  trans 
lated  exactly  between  them  and  Hanlet  Ali  what  each 
had  to  say  to  the  other." 

"A  word  from  Tuan  Hedland  himself  might  have 
helped  the  orang  sirani,"  intimated  the  Malay. 

"  I  interpreted  literally  for  both  sides,  and  had  no 
business  beyond  that,  I  tell  you!"  was  the  pettish  re 
joinder.  "  However, "  continued  the  speaker  more  de 
liberately,  "you  are  at  liberty  to  know  what  I  never 
disguise  from  living  soul,  that  I  have  no  good  words  of 
my  own,  on  any  occasion,  for  the  Yankees — Americans. 
They  didn't  know  their  ground,  and  I  had  other  occu 
pation  than  to  turn  schoolmaster  for  them.  You  East 
ern  characters  can  never  understand  the  difference 
between  not  turning  actually  treacherous  to  those  you 
can't  admire,  and,  at  the  same  time,  not  actively  be- 


70  THEEE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN 

friending  them.  Here  you  and  Makota  are  forever 
taking  it  for  granted  that  because  I  parted  company 
with  Kajah  Brooke  I  would  like  to  see  him  and  his 
friends  driven  back  to  England.  That 's  bosh  again, 
Pangeran  Usop.  You  and  Makota  have  been  very  fair 
friends  of  mine  for  five  years  now.  Your  Sultan  has 
treated  me  well,  and  when  he  wanted  me  to  come  to 
Bruni  as  interpreter  between  himself  and  the  strange 
orang  sirani,  I  came  to  oblige  him.  I  don't  choose  to  take 
up  Tuau  Brooke's  quarrel  against  you,  because  I  've  no 
interest  in  politics,  and  you  and  your  side  are  useful  to 
me.  I  'm  no  politician,  nor  soldier  ;  only  a  peaceable 
man  of  science.  But  then  you  must  remember,  Pan 
geran,  I  'm  an  Englishman,  too ;  and  I  tell  you,  as  a 
friend,  that  you  must  give  up  those  two  English  sea 
men,  or  the  war-ships  will  be  here  again.  England 
stands  no  nonsense  about  her  treaties." 

However  much  or  little  of  this  harangue,  dogmati 
cally  delivered,  the  Pangeran  could  understand,  he 
maintained  his  unruffled  demeanor,  and  kept  to  the 
point  chiefly  interesting  himself. 

"They  say  at  Batavia,"  resumed  he,  "that  there 
was  a  treaty  twenty  years  ago  binding  your  country  to 
keep  away  from  the  Archipelago." 

"Pouf!  that's  the  Dutch  opinion  of  the  treaty  of 
1824,  is  it?"  was  the  contemptuous  answer.  "You 
Malays  are  not  over-fond  of  the  Dutchmen,  I  think  ?" 

"They  are  dogs,  and  sons  of  dogs!"  snarled  the 
Mahometan,  a  peculiarly  bitter  national  hatred  momen 
tarily  overcoming  his  usually  politic  dispassionateness. 

"  Then  don't  quote  them  to  me,  Usop  !"  said  Doctor 
Hedland.  "  Be  advised  by  me  again,  and  do  not  depend 
— you  and  your  party — upon  any  secret  help  that  old 
fool,  the  Sultan  of  Sambas,  can  give  you,  whether  the 
government  at  Batavia  puts  him  up  to  it  or  not." 


FRIEND,   OR  FOE?  71 

A  fresh  outburst  of  gongs,  tom-toms  and  cymbals  in 
the  direction  of  the  palace  drew  the  attention  of  both 
men  again  to  that  point,  and  they  stared  in  silence  at  a 
procession  filing  up  from  the  barge  between  double 
ranks  of  the  royal  body-guard  in  their  huge  white  tur 
bans  and  coats  of  steel — the  bearer  of  the  horse-tail  en 
sign,  then  the  Bandhara  Tumsee,  carrying  on  his  head 
the  brass  tray  containing  the  Letter  of  State,  rolled  in 
silk  and  covered  by  an  embroidered  cloth ;  next,  the 
prime  minister,  Muda  Hassim,  and  his  brother,  Mo 
hammed,  in  flowing  ceremonial  robes;  and,  lastly,  a 
train  of  retainers. 

Suddenly  the  English  looker  turned  to  his  companion 
— both  were  now  standing — and  pointed  to  a  moving 
object  high  in  the  brilliant  air. 

"  Mark  that,  Pangeran  !"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  quick, 
keen  scrutiny  of  the  other's  countenance.  "  There  is  a 
frigate-bird  hovering  over  the  barge — just  to  the  left  of 
it — and  now  he  darts  away  from  it  by  the  stern.  My 
Dyaks  would  call  that  a  bad  '  Antu ' — evil  spirit— for 
your  Sultan — an  omen  that  his  answer  to  the  Tuan 
Captain  may  bring  him  to  grief." 

If  this  shrewd  appeal  to  Malayan  superstition  was  in 
tended  for  a  politic  admonition  to  the  princely  barba 
rian,  it  scarcely  accomplished  that  design.  With  curling 
lip  and  a  cold  smile,  the  Pangeran  replied : 

"  In  his  women's  apartments,  our  Sublime  Lord  who 
Eules  has  a  sacred  gusi— a  '  talking  jar ' — covered  with 
gold  brocade.  It  told  him  when  his  favorite  wife  died. 
What  cares  he  for  the  '  antu'  of  the  Dyak  dogs  when  he 
has  that  to  consult  ?" 

"The  fellow  is  too  sharp  for  me,"  growled  the  doctor 
to  himself.  Then,  turning  from  the  window,  and  speak 
ing  aloud :  "  I  must  go  and  see  after  Oshonsee  now." 

"Oshonsee  is  Tuan  Hedland's  'antu,' "  said  Usop, 


72  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

not  without  a  suggestion  of  irony  in  the  softly-spoken 
remark.  "How  soon  will  he  talk  more  than  his  name  ?" 

"About  the  time  when  that  gusi  jar  of  yours  does," 
answered  his  blunt  guest.  He  added,  walking  toward 
the  doorway:  "I  must  depart  from  your  hospitable 
presence  now  for  a  while,  most  puissant  Pangeran,  for 
that  worshipful  reclaimed  pirate,  Pa  Jenna,  has  his 
prahu  ready  to  start  with  us  for  Sarawak  to-night,  and 
I  should  be  preparing." 

The  Malay  struck  a  gong,  and  immediately  the  room 
swarmed  with  crawling  slaves. 

"  Attend  Tuan  Hedland  whither  he  would  go,"  he 
commanded,  with  a  lordly  wave  of  the  hand.  "I  give 
your  lives  into  his  hands.  I  and  my  poor  house  and  all 
within  it  are  his  1" 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  THREADS  UNITE. 

GOING  down  the  China  Sea  along  the  western  side  of 
'Borneo  ;  from  the  mouth  of  the  Bruni  southwesterly  ; 
a  distance  of  something  less  than  three  hundred  miles, 
past  a  picturesquely  varied  coast  of  alternating  densest 
primeval  jungle  and  weirdly  engroved  mountain  and 
river,  brings  the  voyager  to  the  point  of  land  known 
as  Cape  Sirrik,  between  which  and  the  opposite  Cape 
Datu  the  shore  line  curves  inland  almost  in  a  semi 
circle.  About  midway  of  this  sheltering  indentation 
empties  the  Sarawak,  where,  until  scarcely  one  year 
before,  when  the  terror  of  Rajah  Brooke's  name  and 
the  guns  of  Commander  Keppel  awed  them  into  for 
bearance,  the  truculent  pirate  fleets  of  the  Sarebas 
and  Sakarran  were  wont  to  gather  for  their  nightly 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  73 

missions  of  plunder  and  murder,  on  sea  or  on  land. 
Now,  however,  no  more  peaceful  river  came  down  from 
amongst  the  hills  to  the  ocean  in  all  the  three  thou 
sand  miles  of  Pulo  Kalamantan's  seaboard.  Flying 
under  the  smoke  of  their  burning  fastnesses  of  Rembas, 
Patusen  and  Karangan ;  with  the  pinnaces,  cutters  and 
gigs  of  the  Dido  and  Phlegethon  decimating  them  from 
everj  tortuous  water-way,  and  the  loyal  Dyaks  of 
Brooke  storming  through  the  jungle,  the  fierce  hordes  of 
shereefs  Jaffer  and  Sahib  had  taken  cowed  refuge  in  their 
gloomy  Madi  Mountains,  and  the  gateway  of  the  Tuan 
Besar's  new  dominion  was  open  to  the  Christian  world. 

Entering  there-through  from  the  sea,  on  the  third 
morning  after  the  departure  from  Bruni,  was  Pa  Jen- 
na's  prahu,  with  great  sailing-mats  spread  to  the  fresh 
breeze  on  bamboo  yards,  and  a  low  prow  and  high 
poop  bearing  up  the  muzzles  of  old-fashioned  brass 
bow  and  stern  chasers.  On  either  side  of  the  long, 
narrow  deck,  too,  were  three  of  the  small  iron  four- 
pounder  guns  known,  from  the  place  of  their  origin,  as 
Carronades.  This  was  the  usual  armament  of  a  trader 
coasting  between  Bruni,  Sarawak  and  Singapore  ;  and 
such  a  trader  the  vessel  probably  was,  though  on  the 
present  occasion  making  a  special  passenger-trip  by 
orders  from  the  palace.  A  rudder  at  either  end,  with 
ropes  of  cocoanut  fibre  running  from  it  to  a  helm 
strapped  to  the  sternpost  with  rattan,  and  a  canopy 
of  plaited  rattan  and  Nypa  leaves  to  keep  off  sun  and 
shower,  were  also  among  the  appointments  of  a  craft 
of  fifty  tons,  into  the  primitive  native  construction  of 
which  not  one  nail  had  entered.  Beginning  from  a 
large  canoe,  shaped  from  a  single  great  tree,  the  whole 
planking  superstructure  was  lashed  tightly  together 
with  ropes  of  rattan,  or  bark. 

Crossing  the  bar  of  Sarawak  River,  the  prahu  had, 


74  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

on  ite  Left  side,  a  sloping  beach  bordered  by  the  feathery 
and  peculiarly  elegant  casuarinaa  of  the  Tropics,  mount 
ing  sharply  from  which  the  great  emerald  mass  of 
stately  Sontobong  went  up  two  thousand  feet  to  a 
coronet  of  graceful  ciifls  plumed  with  trees ;  on  the 
right,  a  deeper  spread  of  shore,  carrying  a  network 
of  pale  green  mangroves  to  the  base  of  a  verdurous 
round  hill  farther  inland,  and  completing — with  the 
fairy-like  accessory  of  little  Pulo  Karra,  or  Monkey 
Island,  and  the  distant  peak  of  towering  Mount  Poa — 
one  of  the  noblest  imaginable  shadowy  portals  to  a 
domain  wherein  the  glorious  light  of  the  Cross  was 
breaking  triumphantly  through  the  lifeless  twilight  of 
the  Crescent. 

Unimpeded  rays  from  a  rising  sun,  beating  down  the 
shining  river,  revealed  upon  the  after-part  of  the  ad 
vancing  boat's  deck,  of  eanework  on  a  seat  running 
along  the  outride  of  a  small  poop  cabin,  the  figures  of 
Doctor  Hedland  and  a  companion  shrouded  from  head 
to  foot  in  some  sort  of  extemporized  mantle.  Knife  in 
hand,  the  scientist,  who  now  wore  a  Panama  hat,  was 
energetically  cutting  into  the  tough  rind  of  an  oval 
green  fruit  known  as  the  durion ;  ite  surface  of  briery 
spines,  on  a  circumference  equal  to  that  of  a  large  eo- 
coanut,  making  the  task  no  easy  one.  The  rank  odor  a» 
of  bruised  onions,  arising  from  the  track  of  the  blade 
in  the  sutures  of  the  carpels,  was  a  strange  libel  upon 
the  rarely  delicate  beauty  of  the  satiny  white  Ulterior 
presently  shown,  when  the  knife  had  laid  open  the  five 
.ous  cells  of  the  durion.  Its  liberation,  however, 
induced  movements  by  the  mufflx-d  shape  which  Doctor 
ind  answered  with  a  half  of  the  opened  fruit ;  and 
another  apparent  effect  was  the  coming  toward  the  two 
of  a  man  previously  ordering  the  movements  of  a  knot 
of  Malay  sailors  near  the  prow. 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  75 

This  was  a  tall,  very  strongly  built  person  ;  in  fact, 
no  other  than  the  captain  of  the  craft,  redoubtable  Pa 
Jenna  ;  by  birth  and  antecedents  an  Illanaon,  a  pirate, 
prisoner  to  Muda  Hassim  in  the  rebellion  extinguished 
by  Rajah  Brooke,  and  then  one  of  the  pardoned  by 
Tuan  Besar's  humane  intercession,  and  a  partly  con:- 
verted  master  of  a  peaceful  trader.  In  the  fullest  prime 
of  manhood  ;  his  unbearded  face  scarcely  darker  than 
that  of  a  sunbrowned  European,  on  his  head  a  close 
cap  of  monkey-skin  bound  around  with  a  long-ended 
muslin  band,  and  the  common  Malayan  blouse,  sarong 
and  trousers  completing  his  attire  ;  he  looked  like  what 
he  was — a  barbaric  compromise  with  civilization. 

"  We  're  breakfasting,  Pa  Jeuna,"  observed  the  Doc 
tor,  in  acknowledgment  of  his  deferential  greeting. 
"This  fellow,"  with  a  bend  of  the  thumb  toward  his 
companion  on  the  seat,  "is  too  sensitive  yet  to  stand 
the  morning  air  without  some  muffling.  But  you  see 
he  can  eat  his  durion  with  a  spoon,  like  a  Christian — 
isn't  it  so,  Oshonsee  ?" 

"  Oshon-see  !  O-shon-see  !  O-shon-see  1"  came  in  a 
startling,  half-coughing,  half-pumping  sound  from  the 
muffled  one,  accompanied  by  a  movement  apparently  of 
all  his  limbs  under  the  clumsy  envelope  beneath  which 
he  appeared  to  be  eating. 

"I  should  think  so  !"  assented  Hedland,  with  an  in 
describable  aspect  of  proudly  pleased  gratification ;  the 
while  the  Illanaon  stared  at  both  with  undisguised,  in 
tent  curiosity. 

"  We  've  made  a  royal  voyage  of  it,  Pa  Jenna,"  con 
tinued  the  scientist,  turning  to  his  own  half  of  the 
creamy-pulped  fruit.  "  Every  time  I  get  on  board  one 
of  these  crazy  prahus,  I  'in  freshly  surprised  at  what 
they  can  stand  and  do." 

"Sakarra  and  his  Datus  shone  upon  our  sailing," 


76  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

said  the  barbarian,  pointing  to  the  heavens.  "  Their 
silver  spears  were  over  us  when  we  left  Bruni,  and 
Bulan — the  moon — was  Sakarra's  shield." 

"  '  Sakarra  and  his  Datus  ?'  You  mean  Taurus  and 
the  Pleiades  were  above  the  horizon, "  retorted  his  inter 
locutor  testily.  "If  you  're  going  to  become  an  orang- 
sirani — Christian — you  must  drop  all  that  heathen-god 
nonsense,  my  converted  friend." 

"  Tuan  carries  his  own  '  antu  '  with  him  everywhere," 
Pa  Jenna  insinuated,  pointing  this  time  to  the  cloaked 
shape. 

The  obstinate  superstitious  conviction  of  his  Dyak 
friends,  that  the  taciturn  Oshonsee  was  a  kind  of  do 
mestic  god  (or  "  antu,"  as  they  called  it)  of  his,  always 
so  exasperated  Doctor  Hedland,  that  some  even  of  his 
European  acquaintances  in  Sarawak  and  Singapore 
ventured  occasionally  to  refer  to  it  merely  for  the 
amusement  of  witnessing  his  wrathful  outburst  thereat. 
In  great  irritation,  he  now  putted  away  the  covering 
from  the  head  of  this  alleged  familiar  spirit,  and  a  face 
that,  but  dimly  discernible  in  its  hooded  obscurity, 
had  seemed  as  though  it  might  perad venture  belong 
to  some  elderly  scientific  person  heavily  whiskered,  was 
found  to  be  the  bristling  countenance  of  a  great  Orang- 
outan. 

"  Speak  to  him,  Oshonsee !"  cried  his  indignant 
master  in  English ;  and,  at  the  sound  of  his  words,  the 
creature  thus  phonetically  named  dropped  the  durion 
and  spoon  with  which  he  had  been  engaged,  and,  with 
every  sign  of  mingled  rage  and  nervousness,  started 
from  the  seat.  A  chain  at  his  waist,  however,  held  him 
from  farther  advance,  though  Pa  Jenna  involuntarily 
recoiled,  with  a  hand  on  his  kris. 

"I'll  certainly  let  him  slip  on  some  of  you  fools  of 
savages  yet,"  admonished  the  Englishman,  resuming 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  77 

the  Malayan  patois  of  his  previous  speech,  a  grim  smile, 
however,  stealing  over  his  features  at  the  effect  pro 
duced.  "Back,  Oshonsee  !  Down,  boy  !  You  must 
not  talk  that  kind  of  tomfoolery  to  me,  Pa  Jenna,  be 
cause  you  know  better,  and  I  '11  not  have  it  from  you  ! 
Heathen  you  may  be,  but  you  've  got  the  brains  to  un 
derstand,  by  this  time,  that  I  'm  studying  this  creature 
in  the  interest  of  human  knowledge.  Your  daughter 
has  better  manners.  Go  and  send  Amina  here  1" 

Accustomed  to  the  imperious  ways  of  this  mysteri 
ously  powerful  Tuan  Sirani  and  friend  of  the  Sultan,  the 
unwitting  offender  bowed  low  in  acquiescence  and  re 
tired  toward  the  prow,  whence  presently  a  young  girl 
appeared  in  his  place. 

Amina,  the  youngest  and  favorite  child  of  the  re 
claimed  Illanaon,  was  as  mature  in  form  at  fourteen 
years  of  age  as  other  than  Dyak  maidens  are  at  twenty  ; 
for  the  females  of  her  short-lived  race  are  old  at  thirty. 
She  had  the  delicate  mulatto  complexion  of  the  Lauts, 
or  Sea  Dyaks,  her  tribe  having  come  originally  from  the 
pirate  islets  of  Sooloo,  off  the  bay  of  Illana,  in  Min 
danao,  of  the  Philippines  ;  nose,  mouth  and  chin  were  of 
the  most  regular  Asiatic  type,  and  only  by  her  brilliant 
black  eyes  and  hair  curiously  bound  up  with  strings  of 
agate  beads  did  she  suggest  any  possibility  of  a  former 
sea-rover's  daughter.  Her  dress,  like  her  father's,  was 
a  crude  compact  with  civilization ;  the  sleeveless  and 
usually  loose  jacket  of  her  class  being  drawn  tightly 
close  from  the  neck  by  English  buttons  of  gilt,  and  her 
dark  "bedang,"  or  petticoat,  reaching  to  her  ankles. 
Golden  hoops  in  her  ears,  and  a  conical  hat  of  plaited 
rattan  in  several  bright  colors,  were  the  final  touches 
of  a  picture  of  girlish  grace  very  prettily  in  harmony 
with  the  general  surrounding  scene.  She  walked  con 
fidently  to  the  side  of  the  cabin,  and  boldly  began  strok- 


78  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

ing  the  uncouth,  reddish  head  of  the  now  quieted 
Oshonsee. 

"  That's  a  sensible  child  !"  was  the  approving  ejacu 
lation  of  the  choleric  man  of  science,  who  forthwith 
cast  away  the  durion  husks  and  chestnut-like  seeds, 
and  proceeded  to  roll  a  tobacco-leaf  into  a  segar.  "  We 
shall  be  back  in  our  village  in  a  few  hours  more,  Amina  ; 
and  then  you  '11  see  your  mother  again,  and  Oshonsee 
shall  try  another  turn  in  my  old  suit  of  clothes.  I  was 
a  coward  not  to  let  him  wear  them  to  Bruni ;  but,  if  I 
had,  they  'd  have  talked  me  to  death,  I  suppose,  with 
their  rubbishing  'antu'  stuff." 

The  girl  understood  no  larger  proportion  of  the 
Doctor's  usual  discourse  than  did  the  average  of  his 
native  hearers  ;  so,  with  only  a  childlike  smile,  she 
sank  into  a  seat  beside  the  dozing  occupant  of  the  long 
mantle,  and  silence  followed. 

A  fine  breeze,  aromatic  from  tropical  woodlands  and 
bracing  with  the  keen  savor  of  the  western  sea,  urged 
the  prahu  swiftly  up  the  remaining  forty  miles  of  her 
voyage  ;  the  calm  river  reflecting  her  quaint  outlines 
between  banks  as  varied  and  lovely  as  nature's  virgin 
growth,  under  the  skies  of  perpetual  summer,  could 
make  them.  Few,  indeed,  were  such  effects  of  color  as 
flowers  often  give  to  the  boundaries  of  watercourses  in 
South  America,  the  West  Indies,  Florida,  and  even  in 
Great  Britain.  Only  at  long  intervals  appeared  blos 
soms  of  any  conspicuous  hue.  But  in  every  conceiv 
able  shade  and  form  of  living  green  ;  from  the  almost 
black  of  the  pepper-vine  and  the  pale  verdure  of  the 
mangrove,  to  the  alternating  olive  and  transparent 
emerald  of  the  mangosteen  ;  from  the  marvelously  ser 
pentine  rattan,  running  its  feathery  crests  over  the 
tallest  trees,  to  the  elm-like  durion  and  the  gigantic 
Nypa  palm— the  wild  luxuriance  of  the  scene  was  rich 


TEE  THREADS  UNITE.  79 

beyond  comparison.  Of  fruits  showing  on  their  stems, 
though  in  no  glaring  tints,  there  were  the  lofty  durions 
and  the  orange-like  mangosteens  already  mentioned, 
and  others  with  the  less  known  names  of  lansat,  ram- 
butan,  jambon  and  blimbing.  Large,  cream-colored 
pigeons,  with  a  gong-like  note,  hovered  from  above  the 
prahu  to  the  tree-tops  ;  now  and  then  a  wild  hog  ruffled 
the  underbrush,  or  an  adventurous  monkey  swung 
from  one  to  another  overhanging  limb ;  and  occasion 
ally  an  alligator  \vas  seen  in  the  reeds. 

Canoes,  sampans,  and  other  trading  prahus  began 
passing ;  a  trim  European  brig  and  an  East  India 
schooner  hove  in  sight ;  the  steam-launch  of  a  man-of- 
war  went  by;  denser  jungle  and  more  numerous  Nypa 
palms  appeared  on  the  shores  in  the  shadow  of  encroach 
ing  hills  ;  at  a  bend  the  river  widened  rapidly  to  an  ex 
panse  of  fully  three  hundred  feet  ;  and,  it  being  about 
noon,  the  prahu  of  Pa  Jenna,  gliding,  as  by  magic,  into 
a  whole  fleet  of  prahus,  canoes,  frigates,  boats  and  cano 
pied  sampans — was  abreast  of  Kajah  Brooke's  capital. 

Nestling  at  the  wave-washed  feet  of  hillocks  receding 
by  the  gentlest  undulations,  the  town  of  Kuchin  looked 
at  first  glimpse  like  a  smaller  Bruni ;  its  clustering  Ma 
lay,  Chinese,  and  Dyak  habitations,  too,  on  their  morass 
piles,  aiding  the  resemblance  ;  but  as  the  eye  of  the 
beholder  from  the  river  took  a  more  comprehensive 
survey,  these  primitive  elements  of  the  view  were  dis 
cerned  to  be  barely  more  than  a  picturesque  local  color 
ing.  Before  the  near  background  fairly  began  its  ascent 
into  the  rolling  uplands,  houses  of  European  aspect  were 
visible.  Between  the  shady  patches  of  characteristic 
wood  and  jungle  yet  uncleared  upon  the  grassy  knolls, 
or  swells,  lapping  each  other  in  all  directions,  were  the 
veritable  Swiss  cottages  of  a  lately-incoming  civiliza 
tion  ;  other  dwellings  of  the  same  class  appeared  in 


80  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

course  of  construction  at  various  equally  eligible  points  ; 
and,  on  the  crown  of  a  conspicuous  mound,  partly  em 
bosomed  in  noble  trees,  with  the  new  flag  of  Sarawak 
marking  its  official  dignity,  was  the  spacious  court  and 
home  of  the  English  Kajah. 

Less  than  four  years  of  Christianized  mastery  had 
doubled  the  population  and  infused  the  formerly  squalid 
and  savage  "  Cat  Town"  with  a  spirit  of  wonder-work 
ing  regeneration.  The  frigate  flying  an  English  ensign 
and  the  other  European  vessels  from  Singapore,  which 
appeared  among  the  native  craft  on  the  river,  were 
even  less  significant  of  this  redemption  than  was  the 
actual  "  shop,"  selling  English  merchandise  in  the  town 
itself. 

On  the  prahu  from  Bruni,  now  waiting  for  certain 
supplies  from  the  shore,  Doctor  Hedland  had  studied 
the.  remoter  objects  of  interest  through  a  glass.  Pa 
Jenna  was  at  work  with  his  crew,  Amina  had  long  since 
withdrawn  to  a  lower  cabin,  and  the  simian  passenger 
was  asleep  in  a  hammock  under  the  poop.  What  at 
tracted  the  Doctor's  immediate  observation  was  a  little 
procession  of  the  town  mob  as  it  were — Dyak,  Malayan 
and  Chinese — following,  with  cries  and  gesticulations,  a 
knot  of  persons  apparently  bearing  some  injured  person 
to  one  of  the  modern  houses  on  a  knoll  rising  not  far 
back  from  the  former  rajah's  wharf.  He  could  see  sev 
eral  figures  on  the  veranda  of  the  house,  in  European 
dress,  evidently  in  alarm  at  the  approaching  cortege, 
and  that  they  finally  received  into  their  own  arms  and 
hurriedly  bore  through  the  doorway  the  limp  object  of 
the  throng's  solicitude.  While  he  was  pondering  what 
it  all  could  mean,  a  small  boat  came  flying  out  from  the 
town  toward  his  prahu,  rowed  swiftly  by  a  Malay  sailor 
who  had  but  now  gone  ashore,  and  in  another  moment 
there  came  clambering  over  the  side  to  him  a  burly  old 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  81 

Englishman,  panting  for  breath  and  perspiring  through 
every  salient  curve  of  his  linen  jacket  and  trousers. 

" Why,  old  Peter  !"  he  exclaimed,  in  surprise,  "what 
is  all  this  about  ?" 

"Ah,  Doctor,  it's  a  miracle  you  are  here,  to  oe 
sure,"  puffed  the  man,  wiping  his  steaming  forehead. 
"There's  been  an  accident  to  a  lad  up  at  yon  house, 
and  I  made  so  bold,  when  the  poor  ladies  were  fit  to  die 
of  fright  over  it,  as  to  say  that  Pa  Jenna's  boat  was  in 
the  stream,  with  you  on  it,  and  that  I  thought  you  were 
just  the  kind  gentleman  to  come  with  me  and  see  the 
poor  lad." 

"  That  explains  the  fuss  I  saw  going  on  over  there," 
muttered  the  Doctor,  not  greatly  delighted.  "  But  what 
are  you  doing  in  that  house,  Peter  ?  Who  are  the 
people  ?" 

"  It 's  an  American  family  lately  come,  sir,  from  Sin 
gapore.  That 's  their  Dutch  brig  down  the  river.  The 
Rajah's  old  house  has  been  repaired  for  them,  and  His 
Highness  gave  me  orders  to  help  them  all  I  could.  I 
think  you  're  coming,  sir  ;  for  I  'm  fearing  the  lad's  fall 
was  a  bad  one." 

"  His  Highness — h'mph  !"  Saying  this  with  supreme 
scorn,  Iledland  turned  and  walked  a  pace  or  two — then 
back.  "They  are  Yankees,  eh?  Where's  your  own 
surgeon,  Doctor  Treacher  ?" 

"At  Singapore,  sir." 

"  H'mph  !  And  you  came  for  me  without  any  one's 
orders  ?" 

"  It  was  a  great  liberty,  I  know,  sir,"  apologized  poor 
Peter,  dismayed  at  the  question;  "but  they're  real 
gentlefolks,  and  strangers  in  this  heathen  place ;  and 
I  'd  seen  your  boat  coming  in — don't  I  know  her  as  well 
as  if  it  was  the  old  Royalist  herself? — and  the 
pan  putting  off  for  shore." 


82  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  Well,  my  good  fellow,"  said  Doctor  Hedland,  after 
a  pause,  "  since  you  come  on  your  own  responsibility,  I 
think  I  '11  go  with  you.  Get  the  boat  ready  again,  there, 
and  I  '11  bring  out  my  haversack." 

He  stepped  into  the  cabin,  as  the  servant  hastened  to 
obey,  and,  returning  therefrom  with  a  leather  bag 
swung  under  an  arm  by  a  strap  over  the  shoulder,  fol 
lowed  down  into  the  sampan. 

Very  few  minutes  were  spent  in  the  row  into  the 
town,  and  the  brisk  walk  through  a  tangle  of  native 
huts  and  up  the  gradual  acclivity  on  which  stood  the 
house  of  their  destination.  Substantial  pillars  of  Ni- 
bong  palm  held  the  structure  aloft  some  five  or  more 
feet,  so  that  a  flight  of  stairs  must  be  mounted  to  the 
veranda.  Putting  a  foot  on  the  first  of  the  steps  the 
Doctor  spoke  again : 

"  You  have  not  told  me  their  name." 

"Effingham,  sir." 

From  the  central  doorway,  above,  a  gentleman  of  dig 
nified  aspect  advanced  to  meet  them,  and,  after  a  flur 
ried  introduction  by  Peter,  greeted  the  strange-looking 
Englishman  with  grateful  courtesy. 

"I  must  apologize  to  you  at  once,  sir,"  said  Mr. 
Effingham,  leading  the  way  into  the  house,  "for  this,  I 
fear,  unwarrantable  imposition  upon  your  kindness. 
My  mischievous  boy  does  not  seem  to  be  seriously  hurt ; 
but  the  ladies  are  naturally  nervous  at  aii}r  little  acci 
dent  in  a  scene  yet  so  strange  to  them,  and  our  good 
Peter  was  off  before  I  could  be  consulted." 

"No  apology  is  required:  men  of  my  nominal  pro* 
fession  are  public  property  everywhere,"  returned  the 
unsmiling  Hedland.  "Let  me  see  the  lad,  if  you 
please." 

A  hall,  penetrating  half  of  the  depth  of  the  building, 
led  past  two  doors  on  either  side  to  a  larger  one  at  the 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  83 

end,  and  beyond  the  latter  the  gruff  guest  was  conducted, 
without  further  propitiation,  into  a  spacious  family  room. 
Modern  furniture  from  Singapore  subdued  somewhat  its 
native  crudities  of  structure  ;  and,  upon  an  extempor 
ized  couch  of  three  chairs  and  several  shawls  ;  with  a 
cushion  under  his  head  and  three  ladies  and  as  many 
Chinese  servants  hovering  perturbedly  over  him ;  lay 
the  child  of  ten  American  summers  and  fifty  foreign 
falls.  During  an  inspecting  tour  of  the  more  perilous 
windings  of  the  lower  town,  concerning  which,  for  pri 
vate  reasons,  he  did  not  take  preliminary  counsel  with 
his  parents  and  governess,  Cherubino  had  seen  fit  to 
dazzle  a  group  of  Dyak  boys,  at  play  on  a  bamboo  ladder 
leading  up  to  their  home  on  piles,  by  illustrating  to  them 
the  marvels  and  graces  of  an  ascent  and  descent  accom 
plished  in  the  curious  obverse  quadrupedal  arrangement 
of  body  known  to  the  more  flexible  youth  of  his  age  and 
country  as  "bending  the  crab."  When  lifted  from  the 
ground  by  a  quickly  ensuing  swarm  of  the  older  popu 
lace  of  the  quarter,  he  was  at  first  believed  to  be  dead. 
His  subsequent  fragmentary  remarks,  while  being  borne 
homeward,  as  to  the  possible  wholesome  local  effect  of 
"punching"  some  hypothetical  native  laugher  at  his 
mishap,  reassured  his  bearers  on  this  point,  even  if  they 
did  not  understand  the  dark  menace  to  their  class,  and 
their  cries  on  approaching  the  house  were  designed  to 
convey  the  blessed  hope  of  recovery  to  the  little  fellow's 
exquisitely  tortured  kindred. 

"  This  is  the  patient,  Doctor. — Doctor  Hedland  :  my 
Wife  :  my  Daughter  :  Miss  Ankeroo,"  announced  and 
summarized  Mr.  Effingham,  confining  himself  thence 
forth  to  the  briefest  requisite  amenities  with  a  person 
who  seemed  to  resent  anything  less  terse. 

"  Your  servant,  ladies.—  Now,  little  man,  what  have 
you  been  doing  to  yourself?" 


84  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"I  fell  down  the  ladder  because  some  fellow  jerked 
it,"  moaned  the  bruised  small  boy  ;  in  an  agony  lest  it 
should  enter  into  the  common  mind  that  the  contusions 
had  resulted  from  a  deficiency  in  his  own  elastically 
muscular  resources. 

"  Oh,  you  bad  young  thing — I  don't  believe  you  can 
be  killed!"  exclaimed  Miss  Ankeroo,  exasperated  to 
hear  an  egotistical  form  of  explanation  familiarized  to 
her  by  innumerable  past  experiences  of  needless  appre 
hension. 

"Is  it  possible,  'Bino,  that  you've  been  climbing' 
again  ?"  asked  his  mother,  reproachfully. 

"  And  we  troubling  this  gentleman,  Dr.  Hedland, 
about  him  !"  added  Miss  Effingham,  turning  disdain 
fully  to  join  Miss  Ankeroo  near  a  window. 

Mr.  Effingham,  with  arms  folded  and  an  annoyed  ex 
pression  of  countenance,  looked  on  from  an  adjacent 
chair,  while  the  sententious  and  unsociable  stranger 
made  unceremonious  experiments  with  the  Cherub's 
maddening  limbs. 

"No  bones  broken.  I'll  leave  the  ladies  a  strip  of 
plaster  to  put  on  that  cut  over  the  eye.  Nothing  more 
is  required." 

The  speaker,  not  the  more  affable,  perhaps,  from  feel 
ing  a  certain  indignity  to  his  professional  pride  in  the 
obvious  needlessness  of  his  call,  had  lifted  the  flap  of 
his  haversack  to  extract  the  insignificant  remedy  men 
tioned,  when,  with  surprising  indifference  to  pain,  the 
injured  boy  arose  suddenly  to  a  sitting  posture  and 
gazed  at  him  with  sparkling  eyes. 

"Are  you  the  doctor  that  Peter  says  has  got  the 
monkey  ?" 

Passionate  precipitation  marked  the  scientist's  seizure 
of  his  Panama  hat  and  betaking  to  the  door  before  an 
other  word  could  be  uttered. 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  85 

"Mr.  Effingham,  and  Ladies,  I  have  the  honor  to 
wish  you  a  very  good  day. — No,  Peter,  not  a  step ;" 
and,  breathing  hard  in  his  wrath,  he  emerged  unat 
tended  from  a  house  whose  occupants  had  found  his 
whole  manner  an  embarrassment. 

"  Yankees  ! !"  he  snarled,  with  an  actual  stamp  of  the 
foot,  as  he  passed  through  the  opening  of  the  palisade 
and  crossed  the  foot-bridge  of  a  ditch  surrounding  the 
building.  Such  violence  of  manner,  even  in  a  man  of 
his  constitutional  petulance,  seemed  out  of  all  rational 
proportion  with  the  provocation  of  a  mere  piece  of 
childish  pertness.  In  his  irritated  abstraction  he  nearly 
ran  over  a  handsome  Dyak  youth,  in  civilized  dress,  who 
bowed  and  presented  a  folded  paper  immediately  in  his 
path. 

"  Ah— confound  it !— Situ  ?    What 's  this  ?" 

"For  Tuan  Hedland,"  explained  the  messenger, 
raising  a  hand  in  half-European  salute  to  the  scarf 
tied  about  his  elfin  locks,  and  offering  the  paper  with 
the  other. 

Sighing  his  impatience  the  Englishman  took  the  prof 
fered  missive,  and  read  therein  as  follows  :  "Do  drop  in 
and  see  me  for  a  moment,  dear  Larry,  before  you  go 
aboard  again.  I  am  here,  at  '  The  Grove,'  sick,  on  my 
return  from  an  inspecting  trip  to  Labuan  with  Brooke. 
They  tell  me  you  are  ashore,  at  the  American's.  Give 
me  a  call,  for  old  friendship's  sake.  You  need  see  no 
one  else  unless  you  choose. — DAKYL."  "With  a 
"h'mph!"  the  reader  concluded  his  perusal,  and 
stood,  for  a  moment,  eyeing  the  bearer  abstractedly. 

"Daryl!"  he  echoed,  mechanically. 

"  Tuan  Colonel,"  said  the  Dyak  boy. 

After  slowly  tearing  the  paper  to  pieces  and  casting 
the  latter  from  him,  Doctor  Hedland  motioned  for  the 
lad  to  lead  the  way,  and  the  two  took  the  direction 


86  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

of  the  knoll  on  which  stood  the  Kajah's  official  resi 
dence. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  give  here  the  details  of  their 
progress,  part  of  which  was  by  boat,  nor  to  say  more  at 
present  of  the  appearance  of  the  building  whither  they 
went  than  has  already  been  shown  in  the  view  from  the 
river.  Suffice  it  to  relate,  that,  when  the  house  had 
been  reached,  the  Doctor  was  ushered  into  a  private 
apartment,  opening  from  a  large  central  room  alter 
nately  used  as  court  and  dining  hall,  and  there  found, 
upon  an  easy-chair  near  a  window,  the  man  who  had 
sent  for  him.  The  latter  needed  not  any  military  trap 
pings  to  show  that  he  was  a  soldier.  The  poise  of  his 
well-formed  head,  the  uprightness  of  his  broad  should 
ers,  and  a  kind  of  formality  of  general  movement, 
plainly  indicated  his  profession.  He  had  enough  gray 
in  his  closely-cut  brown  hair,  and  lines  in  his  sternly- 
set  face,  to  indicate  fifty  years,  though  his  real  age  was 
known  to  be  less.  This  was  Colonel  Daryl. 

"My  old  friend  !"  he  said,  with  positive  emotion,  ris 
ing  to  greet  the  new-comer  with  both  hands.  "It  is 
kind  in  you  to  do  this.  Probably  you  expected  to  find 
me  in  bed  :  but  I  really  am  a  little  ailing.  To  be 
strictly  honest,  however,  my  dear  Larry,  that  bit  of 
pathos  about  sickness  was  an  egregious  ruse  to  make 
sure  of  your  coming." 

"  Well,  I  'm  here,  you  see,  Will,"  returned  Hedland, 
phenomenally  mild,  as  he  took  a  chair.  "  This  is  not  the 
first  time,  by  any  means,  that  I  've  come  at  your  call." 

"  I  don't  forget  that,  Larry !" 

"  Not  that  I  'd  remind  you  of  it ;  but  it  ought  to  be 
something  out  of  the  common  to  bring  me  under  your 
Tuan  Besar's  roof  again." 

"You  never  will  be  just  to  poor  Brooke,  I  am 
afraid,"  said  Colonel  Daryl,  with  a  grave  smile.  "You 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  87 

part  from  a  man  by  your  own  volition,  after  coming 
half  across  the  world  with  him — and  me,  too,  you 
know — and  then  turn  crusty  on  him  forever  after. 
I  'm  sure,  Lawrence,  he  'd  welcome  you  here  as  heart 
ily  as  he  ever  welcomed  you  and  me  to  the  original 
'  Coombe  Grove  '  in  old  Bath  ;  and  here  am  I — old 
friend  to  you  both— obliged  positively  to  fib  to  make 
you  come  and  see  me  here." 

"We  parted  at  Singapore  by  common  assent,  Daryl," 
was  the  answer,  with  something  of  the  old,  testy  man 
ner  again.  "  We  are  simply  incompatible  natures  ; 
that 's  all,  I  suppose.  He  keeps  his  way,  and  I  keep 
mine.  You  and  he  are  friends  ;  but  I  have  friends  in 
this  part  of  the  world  to  whom  he  is  not  favorable,  and 
I  do  not  choose  to  cast  them  off  on  that  account." 

"Nor  would  he  for  one  moment  wish  you  to,"  re 
joined  the  other,  very  earnestly.  "I  tell  you,  as  I've 
told  you  before,  Hedland,  it  is  all  a,  gratuitous  assump 
tion  of  yours  that  James  Brooke  is  inimical  to  you  on 
account  of  your  relations  with  Makota,  and  that  set. 
The  quarrel,  if  it  can  be  called  one,  is  wholly  on  your 
side." 

"  So  be  it  then ;  have  it  your  own  way,  Tuan  Col 
onel,"  was  the  response,  given  with  wonderful  humility. 

Daryl  saw  that  this  conversation,  not  novel,  in  its 
material  points,  between  them,  had  reached  what  he 
knew,  from  experience,  to  be  the  limit  of  all  useful  im 
mediate  prosecution. 

"Well,  well,"  he  said,  "you  shall  be  converted  yet. 
"So  you've  been  to  see  the  Americans.  They  came 
here  while  I  was  at  Labuan,  and  I  've  not  even  had  a 
glimpse  of  them.  What  are  they  like  ?" 

"Yankees." 

"That  sounds  so  like  yourself  I — What  an  unlimited 
old  cynic  you  are,  Lawrence  1" 


88  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Shrugging  his  powerful  shoulders,  the  Doctor  gave 
the  Colonel  a  peculiar  look  : 

"If  you  are  an  admirer  of  Americans,  I  don't  know 
that  I  should  object  to  them,  my  boy.  It  was  much 
more  for  your  sake  than  my  own,  you  '11  remember, 
that  I  took  my  first  dislike  to  them." 

Daryl's  face  clouded,  and  he  turned  it  toward  the 
window. 

"I'll  do  these  particular  people,  over  here,  the  jus 
tice  to  say,  that  they  appear  to  be  well  bred,  and  are 
good  looking,"  resumed  Hedland,  with  a  somewhat 
compunctious  flutter  of  manner.  "  My  only  grievance 
from  them  is,  that  they  allowed  that  blundering  Peter 
to  come  and  drag  me  from  my  boat  to  see  a  youngster 
who  'd  been  breaking  his  head  in  some  rough  prank.  I 
never  saw  such  a  detestable  little  beggar.  Damme  if 
he  didn't  want  to  know,  first  thing,  if  I  wasn't  the  doc 
tor  that  had  a  monkey  !" 

A  thoroughly  hearty  laugh  is  a  good,  wholesome 
thing  in  either  the  mouth  or  the  ear.  Of  all  expressions 
of  human  feeling  and  judgment  it  is  the  least  selfish 
and  most  just,  because  in  its  immediateness  of  full 
development  there  can  be  no  discriminating  calculation, 
and  in  its  character  of  involuntary  tribute  it  can  make 
no  conventional  distinction  of  person.  In  simplest 
youth  and  the  most  erudite  age  it  is  the  same — an  unre 
served,  honest  outgiving  of  all  that  honest  Nature  has 
to  render  when  the  clearest  inherent  springs  of  the 
mind  are  appealed  to  for  the  most  generously  quick 
solution  of  unpurchasable  thought.  !£  can  never  be 
disingenuous,  or  prejudiced,  or  unkind,  for,  by  every 
principle  of  its  genesis,  it  is,  for  the  time  being,  the  last 
surrender  of  intellectual  dignity  under  an  instinct  that, 
like  the  fearless  trustfulness  of  innocence,  knows  no 
dread  of  attack,  because  conscious  of  no  element  of 


THE  THREADS  UNITE.  89 

harm  in  itself.  Alas  for  him  who  never  had  or  has  lost, 
the  faculty  of  this  laugh !  Even  more  to  be  distrusted 
is  the  woman  without  it.  To  laugh  such  a  laugh  is  to 
be  at  once  a  thoughtless  child  in  the  delightful  simpli 
city  of  every  responsive  sensibility  of  human  nature, 
and  an  adult  of  mind  in  the  keenest  instantaneous  per 
ception  of  which  cultivated  thought  and  imagination 
are  capable.  To  hear  it,  is  to  be  without  power  of  re 
fusing  it  some  echo,  in  momentary  feeling  at  least,  how 
ever  jaded  to  the  humors  of  existence  the  auditor  may 
be,  or  dulled  by  its  tears ;  and  when  the  genuinely 
hearty  laugh  breaks  from  lips  which  have  been  drawn 
habitually  stern  by  pain  or  sorrow,  it  bespeaks  some 
thing  of  a  remaining  childlike  faith  in  God,  and  in  man, 
and  in  the  goodness  of  all  things,  that  will  yet  either 
soften  those  lips  in  life  under  man's  ultimate  justification 
of  it,  or  make  them  sweet  in  death  with  the  smile  of 
putting  off  earth  for  Heaven. 

At  Doctor  Hedland's  unexpected  outburst  against 
the  inquisitive  Cherubino,  Colonel  Daryl's  previously 
darkened  face  lightened  up  all  at  once  in  every  curve, 
and  he  fell  back  in  his  chair,  roaring  with  laughter. 
Even  the  victim  could  withstand  the  contagion  for  one 
hesitating  moment  only,  and  then,  from  an  unwilling 
grin,-  relaxed  into  a  train  of  hoarsely  chuckling  sounds 
not  to  be  repressed. 

"Oshonsee  here — Oshonsee  there!"  cried  the  first 
friendly  laugher  finally,  with  such  a  look  of  boyish  mer 
riment  as  he  had  not  worn  before  in  twenty  years. 
"  Everybody  knc(Js  about  him,  you  see  !  By  the  way, 
Larry,  why  don't'you  bring  Oshonsee  some  time  to  see 
theKajah's  'Betsy?'" 

Suddenly  the  scientist  was  all  himself  again. 

"  '  Betsy  '  is  only  a  common  specimen — haven't  I  told 
you,  "Will  ?  This  creature  of  mine  is  something  more ; 


90  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

as  different  from  the  ordinary  Mias  of  the  Indies  as  a 
thoroughbred  horse  is  from  a  zebra.  Do  you  think  I  'm 
a  fool,  Daryl  ?  Do  you  suppose  that  a  man  like  myself 
would  waste  the  time  and  study  I  am  giving  this  ani 
mal  on  a  mere  menagerie  brute  ?  As  I  told  you  at 
Singapore,  before  I  went  to  Bruni,  this  Oshonsee  is  at 
least  two  degrees  farther  up  in  the  scale  of  intellectual 
being  than  any  specimen  of  the  simia  ever  before 
known  to  naturalists.  Let  fools  and  children  laugh, 
but  you,  Daryl,  ought  to  be  above  such  imbecility. 
Brooke,  I  suppose,  thinks,  too,  that  I  'm  going  mad 
over  monkeys." 

"No;  there  you  are  imagining  an  injustice  again, 
Hedland.  He  speaks  of  your  hobby  with  respect." 

" My  ' hobby !'"  repeated  the  other,  springing  to  his 
feet  in  an  astonishing  excitement.  "Well  may  it  be 
for  him  if  his  '  hobby '  has  one  thousandth  part  the  good 
for  mankind  in  it !  I  must  go  now,  Will  Daryl,  to  get 
home  some  time  before  midnight,  and  all  I  've  got  to  say 
to  you  is,  make  me  a  visit  before  returning  to  Singapore, 
and  see  for  yourself.  Come  and  see  for  yourself." 

"And  so,  for  the  sake  of  this  Oshonsee,"  said  the 
Colonel,  also  rising,  "  advanced  a  simian  as  he  may  be, 
you  can  cherish  animosity  against  a  man  like  the  Rajah 
of  Sarawak,  and  harbor  with  his  enemies  !" 

The  scientist  turned  upon  him  with  characteristic 
irascibility. 

"Ah,  that  means  Makota,  I  suppose.  Well,  to  him 
I  am  eternally  indebted  for  this  wonderful  creature, 
by  which,  if  I  live,  I  shall  make  my  name  immortal. 
Am  I  to  throw  off  this  Malay  benefactor  of  mine,  one 
of  the  original  and  true  rulers  of  the  country,  because 
Mr.  Brooke  finds  him  inimical  to  his  own  brand  new 
antimony  Eajahship  ?" 

"We  must  drop  that  discussion  once  more,  I  see," 


"AND  SHE  IS  DEAD."  91 

the  Colonel  said,  rather  sadly.  "  At  any  rate,  you  and 
I  should  remain  always  friends,  Lawrence." 

"  Oh,  that,  of  course.  I  've  had  too  much  trouble 
about  you,  my  dear  boy,  to  put  you  in  any  common 
category.  You  '11  come  to  see  me  ?" 

"  I  certainly  shall." 

They  shook  hands  fervently,  and  then  Doctor  Hed- 
land  was  plodding  his  way  to  the  shore-boat  and  the 
prahu  of  Pa  Jenna. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
"AND  SHE  is  DEAD." 

THEY  were  in  Kuchin  at  last— the  Effinghams.  Be 
tween  that  place  and  Bruni  the  preference  wavered  for 
some  time,  the  head  of  the  family  thinking  the  latter 
city  might  probably  be  the  more  advantageous  for  his 
immediate  design  of  looking  for  coal-beds.  At  the 
mouth  of  the  Kiangi,  one  of  the  rivers  entering  the 
Borneo  at  that  point,  Mr.  Dickenson,  an  American  mis 
sionary,  had,  some  years  before,  found  strong  indications 
of  the  genial  mineral ;  and,  after  all  his  inquiries,  Mr. 
Effingham  was  nearly  convinced  that  the  coal  question 
gave  better  promise  than  any  other  to  which  he  could 
turn  his  earliest  attention.  Mr.  Dodge  did  not  gainsay 
this,  though  surrendering  none  of  his  own  lively  faith  in 
nutmegs ;  but  both  he  and  Belmore  stoutly  protested 
against  Bruni  as  a  residence  for  the  ladies. 

Then,  for  a  few  hours,  the  scheme  of  leaving  the  fair 
ones  and  the  Cherub  in  comfortable  Singapore  found 
prosaic  masculine  favor  :  whereat  the  romantic  Abretta 
eloquently  declared  that  hardships  and  barbarism  would 
be  the  delights  of  her  life  if  they  assured  her  a  sight  of 


92  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Borneo  and  its  English  hero ;  and  Miss  Ankeroo  em 
phatically  announced  that  she  should  go  there  herself, 
as  a  missionary  to  those  cunning  little  Dyaks,  whether 
the  family  accompanied  her  or  not.  Finally,  Mrs. 
Effingham,  in  her  undemonstrative  way,  allowed  it  to 
appear  that  she  was  philosophically  indifferent  to  any 
calculable  discomfort  of  temporary  sojourn  in  a  place 
her  daughter  and  cousin  were  so  anxious  to  know.  This 
turned  the  scale  :  Dodge  and  Belmore  exalted  Sarawak, 
the  former  dexterously  hinting  at  coal  indications  on  the 
neighboring  Simunjon  Kiver  ;  and  Kuchin  was  the  des 
tination  at  last  accepted  by  all. 

Letters  of  cordial  courtesy  on  the  subject  passed  be 
tween  Mr.  Effingham  and  the  Rajah  of  Sarawak  before 
the  latter  went  to  Labuari.  The  American  gentleman 
had  a  certain  informal  diplomatic  standing,  from  being 
the  bearer  of  dispatches  from  his  own  government  to 
any  of  its  official  representatives  whom  he  might  en 
counter  in  his  travels.  If  this  was  but  an  abstract  form, 
politically  speaking,  it  accredited  the  high  respectability 
of  the  bearer,  at  least ;  and  Mr.  Brooke  not  only  ex 
tended  a  warm  welcome  to  Mr.  Effingham,  but  hand 
somely  placed  at  his  disposal  the  house  of  his  own  first 
occupation  in  Kuchin.  Chinese  carpenters  were,  accor 
dingly,  sent  from  Singapore  to  repair  the  somewhat  dis 
mantled  building,  and  the  family  took  with  them,  on 
their  brig  Weltevreden,  such  varied  furniture  as  could 
be  obtained,  for  its  further  domestic  redemption. 

Although  Dr.  Hedland  has  been  lately  seen  approach 
ing  this  novel  American  home  through  a  portion  of  the 
town,  it  was  because  the  landing-place  of  his  sampan 
was  at  some  distance  below  its  site.  It  really  stood 
upon  the  bank  of  the  river,  in  villa  fashion,  facing  the 
stream  to  the  north,  and  from  its  eastern  end  command 
ing  a  part  of  the  picturesque  bend  of  the  water  where 


"AND  SHE  18  DEAD."  93 

the  town  first  comes  into  view.  Westward,  over  undu 
lations  and  tree-tops,  loomed  the  distant  azure  peaks  of 
the  mountains  of  Matang ;  and  to  the  south,  or  behind 
all,  stretched  a  clearing  of  four  or  five  hundred  feet,  be 
yond  which  and  its  palisade  boundary  was  the  jungle. 
A  stout  palisade  and  an  artificial  moat  surrounded  the 
estate,  more  to  keep  sheep,  bullocks,  poultry  and  other 
animated  stock  from  straying,  than  for  military  defense, 
and  within  its  inclosure  were  also  the  detached  ser 
vants '-quarters,  kitchen,  bathing  apartment,  and  other 
minor  structures.  The  mansion  has  already  been  shown 
as  supported  by  palm  pillars,  in  the  fashion  of  the 
country.  Its  one  story,  more  than  fifty  feet  square,  bore 
a  roof  of  huge  Nypa  leaves,  and  had  nine  windows  on 
either  side.  Entering  from  the  veranda  the  visitor 
found  a  large  central  room,  with  smaller  ones  and  bed 
chambers  ranging  around  it ;  boarded  floors  and  parti 
tions,  instead  of  the  usual  bamboo  strips  and  leaves,  or 
mats  ;  and  ceilings  of  wood  painted  white. 

The  man  who  should  take  to  such  an  abode,  in  such 
a  place,  wife  and  daughter  of  the  shrill  and  helpless 
order,  would  soon  bewail  the  fatuous  day  when  he  had 
been  tempted  to  bring  them  from  the  supporting  new 
toilets,  novels  and  servants  of  their  normal  domestic  in 
capability.  If,  from  the  necessarily  exceptional  illustra 
tion  heretofore  given  of  them,  the  ladies  Effingham  have 
seemed  to  be  of  this  flimsy  class,  the  impression  does 
them  unchivalrous  injustice.  For  the  mother,  though 
exempted  by  her  rank  in  life  from  any  particular  execu 
tive  training,  had  none  of  the  constitutional  indolence 
of  mind,  or  body,  making  the  inefficient  woman  a  mock 
ery  to  her  youngest  servitor.  Her  aspect  of  pensive  ab 
straction  did  not  mean  the  intellectual  blank  to  betray 
womanhood  as  something  weaker  than  childhood  when 
confronted  by  the  mildest  test  of  her  sex's  true  distinc- 


94  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

tive  sovereignty  of  common  life  ;  and  her  daughter  was 
what  the  magnetism  of  such  maternal  qualities,  added 
to  the  natural  heredity  from  potentiality  of  domestic 
character  in  both  parents,  must  necessarily  make  of  a 
younger  woman. 

So  it  was  that  the  inexperienced  and  sad-faced  Mrs. 
Effingham  presently  evoked  systematic  order  and  rest- 
fulness  from  the  opening  chaos  and  strangeness  of  the 
new  home.  Under  her  noiseless  direction  and  control, 
developing  all  at  once,  as  it  seemed,  from  some  hitherto 
dormant  instinct,  things  fell  easily  into  their  proper 
places  ;  the  alien  servants  brought,  at  great  cost,  from 
Singapore,  learned,  they  scarcely  knew  how,  the  routine 
of  their  duties,  and  within  a  fortnight  this  household  in  a 
comparative  wilderness  was  working  as  smoothly  in 
its  every  essential  function  as  though  indigenous  to  the 
soil. 

"Without  proportionate  efficient  harmony  of  spirit,  at 
least  in  the  daughter,  this  result  would  not  have  been 
possible  so  soon ;  but  in  Miss  Ankeroo  was  found  a 
lieutenant  who  could  have  told  the  Chinese  servile 
brigade  all  that  it  did  not  realize  of  the  method  by 
which  it  was  so  quickly  drilled  into  practical  service 
ability.  The  supernaturally  lustrous  glasses  of  this 
accomplished  female  dumpling's  spectacles  gleamed 
everywhere  over  the  lagging  Chinaman,  like  the  com 
pulsory  planets  of  his  nativity,  and  the  language  ac 
quired  from  Marsden's  Dictionary  sounded  in  his  ears 
with  such  a  novelty  of  imperiousness  as  to  make  him, 
perforce,  excel  the  customary  alacrity  of  his  race. 

Then,  too,  when  the  same  indefatigable  manager  and 
linguist  turned  the  former  outer  cook-house  of  the 
domain  into  her  long-anticipated  mission-school  for  the 
benighted  juvenile  Dyaks,  Malayans  and  Chinese  of 
Kuchin,  not  even  the  manifold  aggravations  and  evil 


"AND  SHE  IS  DEAD,"  95 

examples  of  the  irredeemable  Cherub  could  deter  her 
from  such  educational  progress  with  them,  that,  on  the 
very  first  day,  two  aboriginal  mites  fought  desperately 
over  the  question  of  whether  the  letter  "A"  was  a 
house-roof,  or  a  frame  for  a  bamboo  swing. 

Mr.  Effingham.  loyally  served  by  the  veteran  Peter, 
exercised  the  requisite  masculine  supervision  over  all, 
and  silently  wondered  at  the  facility  with  which  his 
family  adapted  themselves  to  so  many  changed  con 
ditions  of  existence.  More  than  once  in  the  first  two 
or  three  days  the  impulse  was  strong  upon  him  for  a 
comprehensive  shipment  back  to  Singapore.  Aside 
from  the  lack  of  nearly  every  familiar  luxury  of  civilized 
life,  what  were  the  ladies  to  do  with  themselves,  in 
such  a  place,  when  he  might  be  absent  ?  There  were  no 
streets,  nor  roads  ;  consequently,  no  horses  ;  any  trans 
portation  from  the  house  suitable  for  their  sex  must 
be  by  boat ;  and  any  manner  of  journey  beyond  the 
town  toward  the  inland  Dyak  country  would  encoun 
ter  embarrassing  unconventionality  of  native  habits. 
He  was  really  dismayed  within  himself  by  contempla 
tion  of  the  unnatural  seclusion  to  which  the  household 
must,  seemingly,  be  subjected  during  a  residence  of 
months,  and  watched  wife  and  daughter  closely  for  any 
sign  of  misgiving  to  justify  him  in  a  removal  back  to 
the  Straits. 

But  they  showed  no  such  sign.  So  far  as  he  could 
see,  they  felt  no  fears  on  their  own  account ;  indeed, 
found  agreeable  occupation  and  no  little  refreshing 
enjoyment  in  mastering  the  endless  novelties  of  the 
situation ;  while  Miss  Ankeroo  and  the  small-boy  simply 
reveled  in  the  missionary  and  acrobatic  opportunities. 
Nevertheless,  Mr.  Effingham  was  greatly  anxious  for 
the  earliest  possible  support  of  what  social  relations 
Kuchin  might  be  able  to  afford,  and  had  particular 


96  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

gratification  in  bidding  his  wife  prepare  for  their  first 
neighborly  visit. 

"My  dear,"  he  said,  "the  Rajah,  who  is  so  hos 
pitably  kind  as  to  wish  to  be  simply  Mr.  Brooke  to  us, 
is  likely  to  make  an  unceremonious  call  here  this  eve 
ning  ;  bringing,  perhaps,  a  friend  to  whom  he  introduced 
me  this  morning  at  his  house.  As  you  know,  from  our 
past  talks,  he  has  treated  me  with  the  most  generous 
politeness,  since  finding  us  arrived,  upon  his  return 
from  Labuan ;  and  his  assignment  of  this  building  for 
our  use,  when  he  knew  me  only  by  name,  was  a  very 
handsome  attention." 

"It  was,  indeed,"  assented  Mrs.  Efiingham.  "But, 
Richard,  what  do  you  mean  by  '  unceremonious  call  ?' 
Is  not  some  etiquette  to  be  specially  observed  in  re 
ceiving  one  of  his  rank  on  any  occasion  ?" 

"  Only  the  customary  form  of  welcoming  any  private 
gentleman  coming  in  as  a  neighbor.  This  he  impressed 
upon  me  in  the  frankest  manner.  He  is  Rajah  only  to 
those  with  whom  he  is  obliged  to  meet  officially.  I 
never  saw  a  more  unaffected  English  gentleman.  With 
his  fellow  countrymen  of  his  staff,  and  especially  with 
the  two  or  three  naval  officers  over  at  'The  Grove,' 
just  now,  he  is  as  simply  unpretentious  as  the  quietest 
of  them." 

Miss  Eftmgham,  who  had  been  listening  with  interest, 
here  put  in  a  question  : 

"Is  it  one  of  the  officers,  Papa,  he  is  to  bring  with 
him?" 

"No;  I  was  coming  to  that.  Oddly  enough,  my 
dear,  the  friend  is  no  other  than  the  uncle  of  young 
Belmore : — the  same,  Abretta,  that  he  told  you  of  as 
hunting  with  him  after  the  family  fortune  in  Chancery, 
in  the  strange  story  you  repeated  to  me.  And,  yet 
more  oddly,  my  dear,"  turning  again  to  his  wife,  "he 


"AND  SHE  IS  DEAD."  97 

is  a  Colonel  William  Daryl ;  the  very  name— without 
'  Colonel ' — of  the  poor  fellow  drowned  in  New  York  so 
many  years  ago." 

"  Why  !  who  was  that,  mamma  ?"  exclaimed  Abretta 
quickly. 

"No  one  known  to  you,  my  child,"  returned  that 
lady,  with  a  sharpness  of  manner  surprising  even  her 
husband.  "  At  what  hour  may  these  gentlemen  be  ex 
pected,  Kichard  ?" 

"  Soon  after  sunset,  I  suppose.  That  is  the  dinner- 
hour  at  The  Grove,"  said  Mr.  Effingham, 

An  early-rising  full  moon  was  above  the  surrounding 
hills,  and  a  delightfully  cool  evening  breeze  daintily 
feathering  the  glassy  river,  when  the  white  gig  Lily,  of 
the  historic  vessel  Royalist,  was  rowed  to  the  former  of 
ficial  wharf  opposite  to  the  bank  on  which  stood  the 
mansion.  Escorted  by  only  four  oarsmen,  in  the  modified 
Malay  dress  of  his  little  body-guard,  the  Bajah  of  Sara 
wak  came  thus  unostentatiously,  with  his  friend,  on  his 
appointed  social  call.  Strict  deference  had  been  paid 
to  his  expressed  wish  for  no  ceremonial  reception  im 
plying  his  official  character.  At  the  landing,  his  own 
man,  Peter,  and  two  private  servants  of  the  family,  an 
old  Swiss  and  a  negro,  previously  left  on  board  the 
Weltevreden,  awaited  him  and  his  companion  with  lan 
terns.  On  the  veranda  the  host  advanced  to  greet  the 
gentleman,  as  he  had  before  to  Doctor  Hedland  ;  but, 
except  for  the  prostrations  of  the  Chinese  servants 
about  the  doorway,  which  could  not  be  restrained,  the 
welcome  was  as  simple  as  to  the  familiar  visitors  of  any 
country-house  in  America  or  England. 

The  light  of  numerous  candles  in  sconces,  protected 
from  the  attraction  of  insects  by  gauze  nettings  at  the 
open  windows,  gave  the  large  room  of  the  house,  with 
its  modem  furniture  and  graceful  female  figures,  an 


98  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

illusion  of  Home  dramatically  in  contrast  with  every 
feature  and  sentiment  of  the  scene  without.  Mrs.  Ef- 
fingham  walking  forward  so  tranquilly  to  meet  her 
husband  and  his  guests,  and  Abretta  and  Cousin  Sadie 
arising  as  tranquilly  from  their  chairs  behind  her  ;  all 
three  of  the  ladies  in  the  evening  dresses  suitable  to 
their  years  and  an  informal  social  occasion  ;  were  the 
consummate  human  life  of  a  picture  that  seemed  as 
though  it  must  be  a  picture,  only,  in  savage  Borneo. 

It  is  scarcely  in  keeping  with  either  the  requisites  or 
the  proprieties  of  art  to  attempt  any  minute  portrayal 
of  the  illustrious  man  who,  standing  beside  his  friend, 
looked  with  undisguised  pleasure  upon  this  gratefully 
incongruous  spectacle.  Those  whom  History  has  made 
distinctive  potential  presences  to  the  world,  can  be 
most  faithfully  accorded  with  their  historical  ideals,  in 
a  work  like  this,  by  no  more  detail  of  mere  physical 
personality  than  is  essential  to  some  immediate  indi- 
vidualization  of  the  intellectual  effect  intended  to  be 
produced.  History  alone  can  safely  venture  to  retouch 
History  in  this,  as  in  many  another,  province  of  descrip 
tion. 

James  Brooke,  now  in  his  forty-second  year,  appeared 
fully  the  man  represented  by  the  Story  of  his  Deeds,  if 
scanned  by  the  judgment  capable  of  discerning  in  eyes 
and  brow — and,  perhaps,  chin — all  that  is  necessary  to 
account  for  the  mighty  acts  recorded  of  their  posses 
sor.  A  form  erect,  finely  poised,  and  muscular  without 
robustiousness ;  so  made  and  kept,  despite  the  constitu 
tional  impairment  of  the  lung-wound  received  in  India, 
by  habitual  practice  of  every  manly  exercise  ;  was  not, 
needed  to  assure  the  observer  of  his  alternately  mobile 
and  decisive  face,  that  he  could  fight,  as  well  as  argue, 
for  a  principle.  From  the  thinning  light  hair  at  his 
sensitive  temples  to  the  vigorous  turn  of  his  neck  ;  from 


"AND  SEE  18  DEAD."  99 

his  shoulders,  set  back  like  a  guardsman's,  to  the  tips 
of  his  slender  and  nervous  hands,  he  gave  the  impres 
sion  of  a  man  of  action  abruptly  grafted  upon  a  man 
of  study ;  the  capacities  to  do  instantly  and  to  think 
profoundly  having  equal  suggestion  in  his  average 
aspect. 

"Ladies,"  said  he,  with  unconventional  heartiness, 
upon  being  presented  to  them,  "I  do  assure  you  that 
your  coming  to  Kuchin  is  a  positive  benefaction  to  me. 
As  I  have  already  said  to  Mr.  Effingham,  your  courage 
in  becoming  even  but  temporary  inhabitants  of  a  place 
we  have  been  able  to  civilize  so  imperfectly  yet,  gives 
us  a  moral  help  for  which  any  poor  courtesy  of  welcome 
that  I  can  offer  is  like  pence  against  pounds.  That 's 
my  little  speech,"  he  explained,  with  a  smile,  "  and  now 
allow  me  to  introduce  to  you,  ladies,  my  friend,  Colonel 
Daryl." 

The  Colonel,  who,  during  this  prelude,  had  been 
staring  at  Mrs.  Effingham 's  profile  with  eyes  dilating 
more  and  more,  started  and  fairly  caught  his  breath  at 
the  sound  of  his  name  ;  the  two  other  gentlemen  notic 
ing  it  with  no  little  surprise,  and  also  the  obviously 
great  effort  it  cost  him  to  compose  his  features  again 
and  bow  constrainedly  at  each  introduction.  Then, 
fixing  a  strange  look  upon  Mrs.  Emngham  again,  who 
met  it  haughtily,  he  said  slowly : 

"I — think,  that  I  have  had — the  honor  of  meeting 
you,  Madame, — before." 

There  was  an  embarrassed  pause,  until  the  lady,  with 
increased  hauteur,  answered,  in  a  tone  as  though  re 
buking,  without  contesting,  a  presumptuous  remark  : 

"  It  may  be.    I  have  no  recollection  of  it,  sir." 

Under  his  friend's  questioning  glance,  the  older  gen 
tleman's  aspect  now  of  displeasure,  and  the  wondering 
regards  of  the  younger  ladies,  Colonel  Daryl  turned 


100  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

first  red  and  then  white  to  the  set  lips,  but  with  the 
same  intent  look  at  the  proud  face  encountering  it. 

"  Madame,"  he  said  at  last,  with  a  low  bow,  "  I  can 
only  ask  you  to  pardon  me.  I  see  that  I  have  made  an 
unfortunate  mistake  ;"  and  stepped  mechanically  back 
ward  from  the  little  circle. 

"I  must  venture  a  slight  explanation  for  the  Colonel," 
remarked  Mr.  Brooke,  as  the  chairs  were  being  placed. 
"He  once  suffered  a  heavy  sorrow  in  your  country,  Mrs. 
Effingham. — You  and  he  will  excuse  me  for  referring  to 
it  in  these  circumstimces,  since  I  shall  say  no  more  than 
that  it  was  of  a  character  to  make  extremely  painful 
even  a  mistaken  identity  recalling  it  to  mind." 

"Colonel  Daryl  is  quite  excusable,  Mr.  Brooke,"  ob 
served  Mr.  Effingham,  over  whose  offended  manner  a 
softening  change  had  come.  Indeed  he  began  to  recog 
nize,  though  somewhat  vaguely  yet,  some  possible  close 
relationship  between  his  now  silent  guest  and  a  William 
Daryl  he  had  heard  of  before. 

"Colonel  Daryl,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham,  turning  to 
him  with  a  graceful  inclination  of  her  head,  "  has  been 
already  commended  to  our  high  respect  by  the  many 
obligations  we  owe  to  the  very  polite  attentions,  in  Ba- 
tavia  and  Singapore,  of  his  nephew,  Mr.  Belmore." 

The  Colonel  bowed. 

"And  now,  Mr.  Brooke,"  she  added,  with  the  least 
perceptible  hurry  in  her  speech,  "  though  you  so  gener 
ously  disclaim  thanks,  I  must  really  tell  you  how  grate 
ful  we,  women,  are,  for  the  help  of  Peter.  Our  own  two 
servants  from  home  were  so  helpless  at  first,  from  know 
ing  nothing  of  the  language  or  ways  of  the  country, 
that  Mr.  Effingham  decided  to  keep  them  on  the  brig 
until  our  Chinese  household  was  in  some  kind  of  order. 
And  without  my  cousin's  study  of  Malayan,  and  your 
servant's  instruction  of  our  strange  people,  I  am  fearful 


"  AND  SHE  IS  DEAD."  101 

we  should  have  remained  in  anarchy  a  much  longer 
time.  It  was  Peter  who  brought  Doctor  Hedland  to  us. ' ' 

"  I  have  heard  of  that,"  responded  the  Kajah,  under 
standing  and  falling  readily  into  her  design  of  banishing 
all  awkward  topics.  "The  Doctor,  Madame,  is  an  old 
friend  of  the  Colonel  and  myself.  We  were  all  three 
together  in  the  Royalist,  coming  out  here.  At  Singa 
pore  he  decided  to  leave  us  to  our  own  fortunes  and 
betake  himself  to  his  old  pursuits,  as  a  naturalist,  in 
Borneo.  He  is  an  accomplished  Oriental  linguist,  as 
well.  May  I  ask  how  you  liked  him  ?" 

The  conversational  ball  being  now  fairly  set  rolling, 
all  took  part,  at  intervals,  as  the  subjects  varied ;  until, 
after  about  an  hour  of  such  general  sociability,  the  mer 
chant  and  his  principal  guest  unwittingly  drifted  into 
some  discussion  of  national  polity,  that  allowed  the 
others  to  group  themselves  independently  for  the  time 
being.  So  it  happened,  that  when  some  sound  from  the 
river  outside  diverted  feminine  attention  momentarily 
in  that  direction,  the  Colonel  said,  composedly  enough, 
to  Mrs.  Effingham : 

"  Madame,  may  I  be  allowed  to  show  you  the  peak  of 
the  mountain  near  which  Doctor  Hedland's  village 
lies?" 

Looking  her  assent,  that  lady  silently  placed  a  hand 
on  his  proffered  arm,  and  they  went  out  calmly  to  the 
veranda  together.  There, — with  the  torches  nickering 
in  the  boat  on  the  water  below,  the  placid  moon  over 
head,  and  the  shadowy  mountains  around  them — Mrs. 
Emngham  dropped  her  hand  ;  and  spoke  first : 

"  Colonel  Daryl,  I  am  Caroline's  sister." 

He  turned,  to  look  at  her  more  fully  in  the  chastened 
light : 

"  At  first  I  took  you  for— herself. " 

"  We  were  considered  very  much  alike." 


102  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  TFere?" 

1 '  Yes.     Caroline  is  dead. ' ' 

Taking  a  few  steps  away  from  her,  he  averted  his 
face  toward  a  bend  of  the  river,  and  remained  motion 
less  and  silent  a  moment,  then,  returning — 

"  And  she  is  dead  !" 

"Yes.     We  thought  you,  too,  were — dead." 

"  The  unhappy  do  not  die  so  easily,"  said  Daryl,  hit- 
terly.  "  I  was  reported  drowned,  Mrs.  Effingham ;  but 
boatmen  picked  me  up,  unconscious,  from  the  river, 
after  the  steamboat  had  passed  on.  When  I  came  to 
myself  I  bribed  them  to  tell  no  one  but  my  friend,  Hed- 
land,  who  had  also  thought  me  lost.  Who  else  was 
there  in  that  country  to  care  ?" 

Mrs.  Effingham  sighed,  and  looked  down. 

"  Since  then  my  life  has  been  as  though  I  had  truly 
died,"  he  went  on ;  his  low,  concentrated  tone  full  of 
suppressed  passion  ;— "  since  your  sister— my  wife  ! — 
rejected  me,  like  a  dog,  at  her  mother's  bidding." 

"  She,  too,  is  dead,  Colonel  Daryl." 

"Then  Heaven  show  her  the  mercy  she  refused  to 
me!  "he  ejaculated,  as  through  his  set  teeth— "  That 
she  refused  to  Us,  I'll  say — to  Us ;  wedded  improvi- 
dently  perhaps  ;  young,  uncalculating,  unsordid  ;  yet 
wedded  truly  before  God,  and  in  our  own  hearts  ! — But 
you — "  bending  his  head  suddenly  to  her — "why  is  it 
that  your  name  sounds  strangely  to  me  ?  You  were 
married  then  ?" 

"  I  have  been  a  widow.  Mr.  Effingham  is  my  second 
husband." 

Again  he  looked  away,  and  was  lost  in  unspoken 
thoughts  until  her  hand  once  more  touched  his  arm. 

"  Shall  we  return  ?" 

"  I  beg  your  pardon.    At  your  service." 

"A  moment,  Colonel  Daryl— and  then.    My  sister 


"AND  SHE  18  DEAD.1''  103 

loved  you  !  Whatever  you  thought  from  what  you  saw 
and  heard  last — she  loved  you  !  Our  mother  was  abso 
lute  with  us,  beyond  what  you  can  imagine ;  thinking 
it  right  and  brooking  no  opposition.  You  have  spoken 
tenderly  of  Caroline,  Colonel  Daryl — think  of  her  ever 
as  true  ;  think  of  her  as  true — poor,  suffering  darling  I 
—to  the  last." 

Mrs.  Emngham  spoke,  for  the  first  time,  in  accents 
of  tremulous  excitement,  and,  at  the  last  word,  moved 
instantly  back  toward  the  room ,  Daryl  mutely  follow 
ing. 

Soon  thereafter  the  two  gentlemen  departed,  and  the 
family  watched,  from  above,  their  embarkation  for 
home,  and  the  gliding  away  of  the  boat  with  its  pictur 
esque  rowers  and  torches. 

Late  into  the  night  Daryl  talked  unreservedly  with 
his  old  friend  of  the  last,  dreary  page  turned  for  him  in 
a  story  that  both  had  believed  to  be  closed  long  ago ; 
and,  yet  later,  he  looked  moodily  forth  from  his  own 
chamber  into  a  night  waning  gray  with  the  rising  of 
the  western  hills  against  its  glory.  Over  waters  so 
smooth  that  ship  and  prahu  dotted  here  and  there  upon 
them  were  like  embanked  masts  and  fantastic  islets 
transfixed  in  clouded  glass  ;  over  barbarous  roofs  and 
motionless  jungle  ;  through  the  mighty  leaves  of  un- 
rustling  palms  ;  and  weighing  sentiently,  as  it  were, 
upon  the  enfolding  solemn  mountains  themselves — 
reigned  a  stillness  so  blank  that  it  was  as  the  in 
tangible  walls  of  a  sleep,  which  make  a  dream  of  no 
time,  or  country,  or  circumstance,  to  be  limited  by 
localizing  sign,  or  sound.  He  looked  ;  unseeing  where 
he  was,  and  what  he  had  become,  and  living  over  again 
the  hour  of  his  youth,  far  away,  when  he  had  thought 
that  the  fairest  hope  of  his  life  was  killed  by  a  recreant 
tongue. 


104  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"And  she  is  dead!" 

That  hope,  then,  had  really  been  out  of  its  grave  all 
these  years,  though  in  an  unrevealing,  unreasoning, 
dumb  existence  ;  waiting,  waiting — for  what  ?  For 
any  miracle  that  may  happen  in  years — in  years 
crushing  upon  years — so  long  as  Death,  only,  is  not 
yet.  And  now,  at  last,  when  hope  was,  indeed,  at 
its  last  agony  ! 

He  clenched  his  nails  into  his  hands  in  the  supreme, 
voiceless  struggle  of  Love,  Despair,  Hate— and  Love 
again.  Which  should  master  the  ghost  of  that  dead 
hope  for  its  servant,  to  make  of  it  a  genius  of  good,  or 
of  evil,  for  the  time  to  come  ? 


CHAPTEK  VII. 

LETTING  BYGONES  BE  BYGONES. 

WHEN  Mr.  Effingham  married  into  the  Dornton 
family,  and  thus  became  duly  entitled  to  a  share  in  its 
closer  confidences,  his  imperious  mother-in-law,  to  the 
strength  of  whose  maternal  government  his  success  in 
wooing  was  even  more  attributable  than  he  had  ever  sus 
pected,  explained  to  him  why  her  younger  daughter, 
Caroline,  was  a  yet  sadder  recluse  than  the  grave 
young  widow  whom  he  had  gained  as  a  wife.  Such  de 
tached  facts  of  the  case  as  had  already  come  to  his 
knowledge  in  general  society  pointed  to  nothing  more 
unusual  than  a  summarily  checked  little  flirtation  be 
tween  an  inexperienced  girl  and  an  unsuitable  foreigner. 

Mrs.  Dornton  named  and  described  the  alien  enemy 
to  him  as  an  English  army  officer  of  insignificant  rank 
and  no  means,  who,  after  a  designing  courtship  of  only 


LETTING  B  TO  ONES  BE  B  YG  ONES.         105 

two  or  three  weeks,  surreptitiously  prosecuted  while 
the  mere  child  was  visiting  family  relations  in  New 
York,  persuaded  Caroline  into  a  clandestine  marriage. 
Fortunately,  his  egregious  young  dupe  was  recovered 
by  her  parents  before  this  fortune-hunting  Lieutenant 
William  Daryl  could  actually  claim  her  as  his  property, 
and  not  long  thereafter  the  whole  humiliating  problem 
had  been  retributively  solved  by  the  drowning  of  the 
Lieutenant — as  newspapers  reported — from  a  steamboat 
in  New  York  Bay. 

To  this  grim  recounting  the  lady  added  no  comment 
upon  her  daughter's  prolonged  melancholy,  Mrs.  Effing- 
ham  volunteered  no  information,  and  even  after  Caro 
line's  death  no  farther  admittance  to  the  piteous 
romance  was  vouchsafed  to  Mr.  Effingham.  When, 
after  nearly  twenty  years'  interval,  he  saw  the  stern 
and  grizzled  Colonel  at  the  English  Rajah's  house,  the 
name  found  so  vague  an  association  in  his  mind  at  first 
that  only  when  his  lately  eccentric  guest  met  Mrs.  Ef 
fingham  so  discomposedly  did  the  truth  of  the  identity 
flash  upon  him.  Then  a  moment's  indignation  gave 
way  to  generous  commiseration,  for  he  could  perceive 
the  suffering  behind  the  man's  confused  surprise  of 
manner. 

u  And  so  he  is  really  the  same  William  Daryl,  and 
took  you  for  Caroline  ?"  he  said,  after  listening  to  his 
wife's  prompt  repetition  to  him  of  the  short  conversa 
tion  on  the  veranda.  "You  were  wonderfully  self- 
possessed,  Julia.  Until  the  truth  of  the  matter  occurred 
to  me,  I  was  growing  seriously  offended  at  his  equivo 
cal  bearing.  I  think  your  mother  must  have  been 
mistaken  in  her  judgment  of  the  man.  Did  you  recog 
nize  him  first  by  his  name,  or  how  ?" 

"By  the  name,"  replied  Mrs.  Effingham  gravely. 
"  When  his  nephew  mentioned  it  in  the  story  he  told 


106  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

us,  I  was  struck  by  the  coincidence.  I  can't  say, 
though,  that  I  realized  the  actual  identity — how  could 
I,  when  we  thought  him  surely  drowned  ? — until  he 
said,  in  such  a  tone,  that  we  had  met  before." 

"  And  you  had  never  seen  him  ?" 

u  No.  I  was  married  and  away  before  he  came  to 
Dornton  Manor." 

'  "Well,  the  poor  fellow  has  certainly  been  an  ideal 
lover,"  was  the  husband's  comment,  with  a  sympa 
thetic  sigh.  "  Poor  Caroline  !" 

"Ah,  my  poor  sister  !"  echoed  the  wife.  And,  after 
a  pause,  she  added,  looking  up  from  her  dressing-table : 
"My  heart  ached  for  him,  Richard,  when  I  saw,  in  his 
mistaking  me  for  her — our  voices  were  much  alike,  you 
remember — that  he  had  not  gotten  over  his  love  of  so 
long  ago.  I  was  glad  when  he  gave  me  the  opportunity 
to  speak  to  him  about  Caroline.  Did  Mr.  Brooke  notice 
our  absence  ?" 

"Not  that  I  could  observe.  But  from  what  he  said 
before  that,  my  dear,  it  is  plain  enough  that  he  is  fa 
miliar  with  the  story.  Upon  my  word,  it  is  a  very 
curious  chance  that  brings  us  upon  such  a  resurrection 
of  the  old  family  skeleton  in  this  out-of-the-way  corner 
of  the  world  !  Really,"  said  Mr.  Effingham,  clasping 
his  hands  over  his  head  with  an  air  of  perplexity,  as  he 
sat  in  his  easy-chair,  "  this  finding  young  Belmore  and 
the  Colonel,  and  even  the  Rajah,  all  linked  to  us,  in  a 
way,  by  such  a  delicate  subject,  may  make  our  social 
situation  here  by  no  means  easy  to  manage  without 
some  tact.  And  it  seems  that  this  ill-mannered  Doctor 
Hedland,  too,  is  in  the  secret." 

"Mr.  Belmore  is  not,"  observed  Mrs.  Effingham 
thoughtfully.  . 

"But  soon  will  be,  you  may  depend,"  rejoined  her 
husband.  "  He  is  to  be  here  presently  from  Singapore, 


LETTING  B  TO  ONES  BE  B  YG  ONES         107 

you  know,  as  the  squadron  goes  up  to  Bruni ;  and,  after 
what  has  happened  to-night,  his  uncle  is  likely  to  tell 
him  who  his  new  American  friends  are.  It  will  be 
necessary,  to  prevent  awkwardness,  if  his  acquaintance 
is  to  continue.  And  there  is  Abretta,  too." 

"  I  asked  Sadie,  before  they  went  to  their  rooms  just 
now,  to  tell  Abretta  the  story  as  discreetly  as  she  could. 
Sadie  knows  it  all,  from  my  mother  and  from  myself, 
though  she  never  knew  Caroline.  '  Of  course  it  is  neces 
sary  now  for  Abretta  to  be  informed,  after  what  she  had 
seen  and  heard  already  to-night."  The  speaker  gazed 
abstractedly  for  a  moment  or  two  at  the  wedding-ring 
she  wore,  and  then,  looking  up  again  with  a  faint  smile  : 
"It  is  too  bad,  Eichard,  that  you  and  our  daughter 
could  not  have  been  spared  this  old  Dornton  trouble." 

To  which  her  husband  replied,  with  affectionate  em 
phasis  : 

"Neither  Abretta  nor  I  would  thank  any  one  for  ex 
empting  us  from  anything  in  the  remotest  degree 
affecting  you,  my  dear." 

The  influence  of  this  retrospective  episode  was  seen 
in  no  immediate  effect  upon  the  family  life  beyond  some 
natural  conversational  recurrence  to  it  at  the  next 
morning's  breakfast-table.  Abretta's  general  tenor  of 
reference  thereto,  on  that  occasion,  proved  that  Miss 
Ankeroo  had  judiciously  limited  her  explanation  of  Col 
onel  Daryl's  past  association  with  the  Dorntons  to  the 
simple  revelation  that  he  had  been,  in  his  youth,  an 
avowed  admirer  of  that  fair  Aunt  Caroline  whose  very 
existence  was  scarcely  more  than  a  dim  tradition  to  her 
niece's  mind.  Taken  in  connection  with  the  kinship  of 
this  gentleman  to  their  friend,  the  naval  Lieutenant, 
and  his  concern  in  the  romantic  search  after  poor,  mad 
old  Kuadh  and  the  long-missing  Will,  any  such  revela 
tion  was  calculated  to  quicken  a  girlish  imagination ; 


108  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

yet,  after  a  due  interval  of  wonder,  Miss  Effingham  ex 
hibited  a  more  abiding  interest  in  the  Kajah  of  Sarawak. 

"Did  you  notice,  Papa,  that  Mr.  Brooke  held  his 
handkerchief  in  hand  the  whole  time  he  was  here  ?" 
she  asked. 

"I  observed  the  same  peculiarity  in  him  at  his  own 
house,"  said  her  father,  "and  could  not  help  mention 
ing  it  privately  to  his  English  agent,  Mr.  Wise,  whom 
I  met  there.  He  was  good  enough  to  tell  me  that  the 
Kajah  has  contracted  the  habit  from  originally  adopting 
the  form,  out  of  policy,  as  a  traditional  usage  of  all 
high  officials  in  Mahometan  countries.  To  Eastern 
minds  it  is  an  inseparable  sign  of  sovereignty." 

' '  That  is  interesting, ' '  observed  Miss  Ankeroo.  ' '  In 
deed,  he  is  the  most  interesting  English  character  I 
have  yet  seen.  Cousin  Julia,"  she  went  on,  turning 
her  plump  countenance  and  tutorial  spectacles  to  Mrs. 
Effingham,  "you  and  Abretta  haven't  shown  much 
faith  in  my  missionary  idea  ;  but  what  do  you  suppose 
this  hero  of  yours  said  to  me  about  it,  while  you  arid 
that  glum  old  Colonel  were  having  your  private  chat  ? 
He  declared  that  he  had  long  wished  for  American 
missionaries  here,  because  they  always  deal  more  sensi 
bly  than  either  English,  or  Germans,  with  the  people  of 
a  country  like  this.  They  don't  begin  by  abusing  Mo 
hammed,"  he  said,  "  but  show  some  respect  for  honesty 
even  in  a  mistaken  faith.  And  he  was  really  delighted 
to  hear  that  I  know  something  of  medicine.  That 
branch  of  knowledge,"  he  says,  "is  simply  invaluable 
as  an  aid  to  the  spiritual  influence  of  missionaries  in 
Eastern  lands." 

"  Though,  as  I  told  him,  you  hadn't  the  presence  of 
mind  to  think  of  it  when  Cherubino  got  that  fall,  and 
you  allowed  Peter  to  go  after  Doctor  Hedland,"  re 
marked  Mr.  Effingham,  in  smiling  skepticism. 


LETTING  B  TG  ONES  BE  B  TG  ONES.         109 

"Yes,  and  it  was  too  bad  in  you,  Cousin  Bichard. 
But  where  is  'Bino  now  ?"  she  interjected,  abruptly, 
with  a  hurried  look  around  the  table,  and  from  thence 
to  a  window  through  which  suggestive  sounds  were 
coming.  "  He  was  here  a  minute  ago.  Why,  I  do  be 
lieve —  I"  (going  precipitately  to  the  window  in  question) 
"  Yes  I  there  he  's  got  two  of  the  chickens  fighting  on 
that  gravel  bed  which  Peter  smoothed  out  for  me  so 
nicely  in  front  of  my  school-house  !" 

In  the  grieved  parental  and  sisterly  silence  following 
the  irritated  lady's  immediate  headlong  flight  in  the 
direction  indicated,  all  ears,  including  those  of  Berner, 
the  attendant  Swiss  major-domo,  heard  a  piping  little 
voice  presently  exclaiming  : 

"Oh,  didn't  the  red-and-black  one  whip  him  like 
sixty,  though  !" 

Two  or  three  days  passed  on  without  further  notable 
incident  in  the  principally  exotic  household.  With 
Berner,  the  staid  and  elderly,  established  as  butler 
(now  that  Peter  had  gone  back  to  "The  Grove"),  and 
interpreted  to  his  Oriental  subordinates  by  Cousin 
Sadie  ;  Ambrose,  the  equally  veteran  negro  familiar, 
as  amateur  gardener,  boat-keeper  and  messenger; 
and  the  whole  domestic  system  working  with  com 
parative  smoothness  ;  Mr.  Emngham  was  at  liberty 
to  mature  his  preparations  for  a  trip  to  the  Simun- 
jon  coal  region,  in  company  with  the  Kajah's  chief 
Aide  and  interpreter,  Mr.  Williamson,  and  the  ladies 
had  leisure  for  needlework,  sketching  and  missionary 
developments.  It  remained  a  piquant  novelty,  for  all, 
to  be  thus  indigenously  housed  together  immediately 
over  the  Equator ;  the  customary  blending  quaintly 
with  the  strangest  of  adjacencies  in-doors,  and  the 
half-fearful  charm  of  being  upon  the  veriest  edge  of 
a  great  Unknown  Land  pervading  everything  outside. 


110  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

The  grassy  interval  between  the  broad  front  of  the 
palm-roofed  mansion  and  the  palisade,  had  by  this  time 
been  turned  into  something  like  a  miniature  botanical 
garden ;  retaining  Nypas,  ferns  and  several  wild  dur- 
ions  to  shade  the  flowers  during  the  hottest  hours, 
though  the  temperature  of  summer-noon  was  never 
so  high  as  90  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  the  nights 
were  refreshingly  cool.  Behind  the  house,  what  avail 
able  space  was  not  required  for  live-stock,  had  assumed 
the  regularity  of  a  Chinese  vegetable  preserve.  The 
ladies,  with  sampler,  or  pencil,  or  book,  found  a  placid 
luxury  of  sight  and  mind  in  sitting  long  hours  within 
view  of  half-civilized  river,  or  massively  retreating 
mountain,  or  pathless  forest  primeval ;  and  the  hus 
band  and  father  was  not  without  enjoyable  mental 
zest  for  the  philosophical  revery  coming  so  easily 
with  a  cigar  in  such  suggestive  scenes. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  however,  when  the  third 
afternoon  after  the  evening  call  brought  company  by 
boat  again,  no  one  regretted  the  variety.  At  mid-day 
an  English  brig  had  come  up  the  river  from  the  sea, 
saluting  the  Rajah's  flag,  and  it  was  only  five  hours 
later  when  no  less  than  three  gentlemen  were  filing 
within  the  palisade.  The  foremost  of  these,  and  con 
spicuously  the  most  elastic  in  general  movement,  was 
no  sooner  inside  of  the  inclosure  than  he  at  once 
started  upon  a  run  for  the  durion  tree,  up  which,  by  al 
ternate  elevation  of  hands  and  knees,  he  went  climbing 
with  extreme  velocity.  From  a  height  of  perhaps  six 
feet  he  came  down  as  swiftly,  and  then  looked  for  splin 
ters  in  his  palms  with  glowing  vivacity. 

"  I  tell  you,  gents,  it  feels  first-rate  to  take  a  square 
breather  on  dry  land  after  so  many  days'  sailing  !"  he 
puffed,  removing  his  pith  helmet  for  a  fan. 

"  It  is  to  be  hoped  we  have  no  observers,  Mr.  Dodge," 


LETTING  BYGONES  BE  BYGONES.         Ill 

remarked  his  older  companion,  without  much  relish; 
and  the  younger  one  laughed. 

They  were  the  host  of  "  The  Straits  "  and  Lieutenant 
Belmore,  arriving  from  Singapore  ;  with  Colonel  Daryl 
to  bear  them  company ;  and  the  party  were  presently 
proffered  welcome  by  their  friends  in  the  house. 

First  greetings  being  over,  and  hot  tea  served  all 
around,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  the 
Colonel,  whose  whole  genial  manner  was  strongly  in 
contrast  with  that  of  a  previous  occasion,  entered  into 
a  deprecating  apology  for  the  informality  of  his  own 
coming. 

"My  nephew,"  said  he,  "would  have  me  come  with 
him,  if  only  to  help  excuse  his  headlong  haste  to  see 
you  in  your  Borneon  quarters.  Mr.  Dodge  was  also 
good  enough  to  abet  him.  I  do  not  see,  however," 
with  a  smile,  "why  an  old  soldier  should  stand  on  punc 
tilio  in  a  case  like  this.  My  friend,  Mr.  Brooke,  has  vir 
tually  waived  the  stricter  conventionalities  for  all  of  us. " 

"And  you  will  be  good  enough  to  think  no  more  of 
them,  my  dear  Colonel, "  said  Mr.  Effingham. 

"Thank  you:  I  shall  forget  them  with  great  plea 
sure."  Then,  motioning  slightly  toward"  his  nephew, 
who  was  chatting  over  his  teacup  with  Abretta  and 
Miss  Ankeroo :  "  Although  Edwin  has  been  here  only  a 
few  hours,  I  have  already  found  time  to  tell  him,  Mrs. 
Effingham,  that  I  have  certain  recollections  of  your 
family  in  America.  My  descent  from  an  American 
grandmother,  who  was  known  to  your  mother,  is  also  a 
kind  of  friendly  tie  to  which  neither  of  us  can  be  indif 
ferent." 

All  this  was  said  in  a  tone  of  the  most  unreserved 
cordiality,  yet  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Effingham  could  find 
only  conventional  terms  for  their  immediate  responses. 
The  former  murmured  something  about  "reciprocal 


112  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

sentiments,"  and  the  latter,  with  an  anxious  look  in  her 
soft  dark  eyes,  merely  bowed. 

"  I  have  always  remarked,"  ventured  Mr.  Dodge,  to 
whom  the  whole  matter  was,  of  course,  a  sealed  book, 
"  that  a  '  friendly  tie  '  of  any  sort  between  elders  is 
very  apt  to  be  tied  by  the  youngsters  in  the  form  of  a 
beau."  And  he  wagged  his  head  in  the  direction  of 
the  absorbed  young  Lieutenant.  It  was  a  timely  di 
version,  at  least,  even  if  somewhat  coldly  received,  and 
afforded  Mr.  Emngham  a  pretext  for  presently  drawing 
the  presumptuous  athlete  into  abstract  discourse,  and 
then  moving  away  with  him  on  excuse  of  business  exi 
gencies. 

Fully  understanding  her  husband's  intention  to  in 
trust  to  her  the  particular  entertainment  of  a  guest 
whose  moods  and  sensibilities  she  would  probably  have 
the  truest  intuitive  instinct  to  meet  considerately,  Mrs. 
Effingham  promptly  availed  herself  of  their  temporary 
isolation  to  forego  all  farther  aspect  of  indecision.  Bel- 
more,  Abretta  and  Cousin  Sadie  were  apart  from  them 
the  width  of  the  room,  and  the  two  men  of  business 
paced  the  veranda. 

"I  cannot  tell  you,  Colonel  Daryl,"  she  began,  in  a 
subdued  but  firm  voice,  "how  much  it  gratifies  my 
feelings  to  find  you  adopting  this  tone  with  us,  for  I  give 
you  credit  " — looking  more  intently  at  him — "for  sin 
cerity." 

"That  you  may  safely  do,  madame,"  he  replied,  in 
clining  his  head  at  the  compliment.  "  My  chief  purpose 
in  coming  here  this  afternoon  is  to  beg  that  you  will 
pardon  my  abruptness  of  manner  at  our  first  interview. 
Not  that  I  doubted  for  a  moment  the  forgiving  impulse 
you  must  have  felt  as  a  woman,"  he  added  quickly, 
"  but  if  you  could  excuse  a  man  for  momentarily  show 
ing  his  harsher  nature  under  a  harrowing  reminder  for 


LETTING  BYGONES  BE  BYGONES.         113 

which  he  had  not  been  in  the  least  prepared,  I  cannot 
so  gracefully  excuse  myself  for  not  realizing  that  to  you 
personally  I  owed  nothing  but  gratitude." 

"  If  we  are  to  be  friends  at  all,  you  must  not  talk  in 
that  vein,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham,  flushing.  "We  are 
both  too  old  for  false  sentiment ;  and  you  would  not 
have  occasion  for  this  conversation,  sir,  if  I  had  not 
felt,  when  I  knew  whom  you  were,  that,  from  my 
family,  a  heavy  debt  of  reparation  was  due — must 
ever  be  due— to  you." 

"  Such  frankness  of  confession  leaves  me  no  longer  a 
creditor,"  he  began,  formally  and  coldly.  But  again 
he  melted,  as  he  continued  :  "  I  am  really  in  no  mood, 
myself,  Mrs.  Effingham,  for  high-flown  talk.  Will  you 
not  tell  me  more  about  Caroline  ?  Your  voice  so  re 
minds  me  of  hers  that  I  forget  my  gray  hairs  in  hearing 
it !  Why  was  it  possible  for  her  to  be  persuaded  to  re 
ject  me  as  she  did  ?  I  mean  so  bitterly.  Her  own 
words  were,  that  she  regretted  our  union  bitterly  !" 

"  A  mother's  authority  over  both  of  us  was  what  we 
dared  not  to  oppose,"  was  the  sorrowfully-spoken 
answer. 

"Perhaps  I  expected  too  much  of  one  so  young," 
the  Colonel  went  on,  with  a  long  breath  ;  "  yet  she  was 
my  wife.  The  woman  soul  should  have  grown  enough, 
even  within  her  girlish  years,  to  have  spared  me  the 
crowning  indignity  of  being  literally  spurned!" 

"  She  could  scarcely  have  known  what  she  said,  Col 
onel  Daryl." 

"  If  her  affection  had  been  what  I  had  confidently  as 
sumed  it  to  be  in  seeking  that  last,  miserable  interview, 
a  something  in  the  gentlest  human  nature  superior  to 
all  repression,  would  have  made  it  instinctively  impos 
sible  for  her  to  use  the  contemptuous  words  she  did. 
They  were  what  gave  to  my  wound  a  shame — a  Shame, 


114  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

madame  ! — that  I  feel  ignominiously  to  this  very  hour." 
His  compressed  lips  and  lowering  brows  were  more 
expressive  than  his  language. 

Unconsciously  clasping  her  hands  in  her  lap,  the  sis 
ter  of  Caroline  Dornton  despairingly  realized  that,  in 
the  keeping  of  this  old  love  alive  so  long,  there  was  a 
feeling  more  obdurate  to  reparation  than  any  ordinary 
sense  of  personal  injury.  Merely  the  having  been  de 
prived  of  one  existing  for  him  in  name,  alone,  as  a 
bride,  would  not  have  left  so  sinister  a  trail  across  the 
whole  life  of  a  man  like  this. 

"  You  forget, "  she  said,  "  what  I  assured  you  of  the 
other  evening — that  Caroline's  love  was  worthy  of 
your  own,  in  spite  of  those  last  appearances.  Colonel 
Daryl,  I  loved  my  sister  very  dearly,  and,  until  my  own 
first,  early  marriage,  we  were  inseparable.  Our  moth 
er's  severe  rule  kept  us  the  closer  together.  I  knew 
her  every  thought  and  feeling,  as  she  did  mine,  and  can 
say,  of  my  own  knowledge,  that,  in  believing  you  dead, 
her  own  death-blow  came  from  the  conviction  that  you 
must  have  died  without  faith  in  her  worthiness.  From 
the  day  when  our  mother,  deeming  it  wise,  however 
harsh,  handed  her  a  newspaper  reporting  you  as 
drowned,  she  sank  into  a  lifeless  dejection,  to  be 
ended  by  death  only.  She  died  of  a  broken  heart. 
And  what  is  more,  Colonel  Daryl,  if  we  had  known 
you  to  be  alive,  Caroline  would  have  given  up  her  own 
existence  sooner  than  consented  to  any  interference  of 
the  law.  After  all  this  can  you  not  wholly  forgive  her  ? 
— forgive  the  poor,  loving  girl,  so  early  lost,  who  died 
your  wife  ?" 

An  ordinarily  sympathetic  listener  might  have  been 
deeply  moved  by  the  pathos  of  this  sisterly  retrospect 
and  last  appeal.  The  Colonel's  whole  face  quivered  at 
the  climax. 


W/ 

•''  '  ft   /  /  •'  /rfjp 


LETTING  B  YG  ONES  BE  B  YG  ONES.         115 

"I  have  nothing,  nothing,  to  forgive— except  that 
she  did  not  live  !" 

"  And  try,  also,  to  think  not  too  hardly  of  our  mother. 
I  am  sure  she  would  have  acted  the  same  if  any  one  had 
sought  to  marry  my  sister  just  then.  Under  all  her  aus 
terity  of  demeanor  was  an  idolatrous  love  for  Caroline. 
The  circumstances  compelled  her  to  assign  common 
place  reasons  for  her  conduct ;  but  it  was  a  frenzied 
unwillingness  to  have  the  object  of  her  secret  worship 
taken  from  her  home  by  any  one,  in  any  manner,  that 
inspired  her  harshness  to  you  both.  Caroline's  death 
hastened  her  own." 

"I  mean  anything  but  vain  compliment,  Mrs.  Effing- 
ham,"  answered  Daryl,  with  feeling,  "  when  I  say  that 
your  pleading  moves  me  almost  to  doubt  that  I,  myself, 
am  not  the  one  who,  alone,  should  have  sought  pardon. 
I  will  be  frank  with  you,  madame,  in  adding,  however, 
that,  under  all  the  cooler  and  maturing  judgment  of 
twenty  later  years,  I  have  not  been  able  to  see  that  I 
committed  any  serious  wrong  in  my  marriage.  I  was 
as  innocent  of  any  disingenuousness,  or  sordid  calcula 
tion,  in  it,  as  your  sister  herself.  From  our  meeting  at 
the  party  in  New  York  and  my  first  call  at  Mrs.  Yon 
Gilder's,  the  association  drifted  naturally,  of  itself,  into 
a  passion  we  were  both  too  young  and  inexperienced  to 
recognize.  It  was  that,  of  course,  which  influenced  us 
to  our  union  ;  but  neither  of  us  realized  what  was 
really  our  subtly  irresistible  impulsion.  For  my  own 
part,  when  Caroline  began  talking  of  a  return  to  Dorn- 
ton  Manor,  I  was  at  once  aghast  with  misgivings  of 
ever  even  seeing  her  again.  I  had  been  there,  you  may 
have  heard — that  is,  in  Dornton,  where  my  grand 
mother  belonged— and  dreaded  that  Mrs.  Dornton 
would  show  little  favor  to  a  poor  young  foreign 
Lieutenant  on  furlough.  I  said  as  much,  in  my  per- 


118  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Mrs.  Effingham  had  crossed  the  room  to  where  her 
daughter  and  the  young  sailor  were  yet  conversing,  and 
the  Colonel  gave  his  attention  chiefly  thitherward. 

"  Oh,  no ;  there  you're  quite  mistaken,  sir,"  corrected 
the  amateur  of  orang-outans ;  "quite,  I  assure  you. 
He  was  at  Singapore  for  a  few  days  before  he  went  to 
Bruni  to  interpret  for  the  Sultan  and  the  '  Constitution,' 
and  I  approached  him  with  a  view  to  negotiations  on 
behalf  of  Mr.  Barnum.  '  What  do.  you  want  ?'  said  he. 
'  That  monkey,  on  your  own  terms,  to  send  to  the 
States  with  two  tigers  and  a  bird  of  paradise,'  said  I. 
It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  repeat  to  you,  gentlemen 
and  lady,  the  exact  terms  of  his  genial  rejoinder,  but 
they  amounted  to  a  high  tribute  to  my  native  land  for 
its  prolific  yield  of  bashful  timidity  of  character.  '  See 
here,  Doctor,'  said  I,  'just  think  over  this  thing,  and 
I  '11  come  up  some  time  and  see  you  about  it  on  the 
Sarawak. '  And  I  expect,  Mr.  Effingham,  to  give  him 
a  call  when  you  and  I  are  on  our  way  back  from  Simun- 
jon.  Take  my  word  for  it,  sir,"  concluded  Mr.  Dodge, 
confidently,  "Hedland  can  be  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
old  fellows  in  the  world,  when  he  doesn't  want  to." 

The  merchant  took  this  final  antithesis  rather  grimly  ; 
but  Miss  Ankeroo  felt  enough  of  a  naturalist's  interest 
in  the  subject  to  question  further. 

"Is  the  owner  of  this  accomplished  mias  really  a 
physician— that  he  is  called  Doctor?"  she  asked. 

"  Used  to  be  of  that  profession,  ma'am,  I  've  heard," 
was  the  reply.  "  Indeed,  you  see  "—with  an  air  of  re 
flective  after-thought—"  this  island  of  Borneo  ought  to 
be  a  great  harvest  of  fever  patients." 

"You  don't  tell  me!  Why?"  cried  the  lady,  in 
some  alarm. 

"  So  much  Malay-ria  on  the  coast,  don't  you  observe  ? 
and  so  much  Mias-ma  inland." 


LETTING  BYGONES  BE  BYGONES.         110 

Then  Mr.  Effingham  somewhat  peremptorily  went 
over  to  the  other  side  of  the  room,  with  the  equally 
startled  English  soldier ;  and,  while  Mr.  Dodge  sauntered 
thoughtfully  to  a  window,  Miss  Ankeroo,  gazing  blankly 
after  him  where  she  stood,  mechanically  removed  her 
spectacles  to  give  the  greater  freedom  of  dilating  aston 
ishment  to  her  incredulous  eyes. 

The  boat  in  which  Colonel  Daryl  and  his  nephew 
were  going  back  to  a  sunset  dinner  in  the  Rajah's  hos 
pitable  halls,  was  watched  by  very  friendly  eyes,  so 
long  as  it  could  easily  be  followed  from  the  casements 
of  the  American  home.  It  was  seen  that  the  Indian 
helmets  worn  by  both  men  came  close  together,  as 
though  the  wearers  held  confidential  communion,  and 
the  Dyak  rowers  plied  their  flashing  oars  with  a  smooth 
protraction  of  the  pull  that  seemed  sympathetic. 

"And  are  they  not  all  capital  people  ?"  the  younger 
man  was  saying,  his  face  a-light  with  the  glow  of  the 
sinking  sun.  "You  mustn't  judge  Dodge  too  soon; 
he 's  no  end  of  good  company,  when  you  know  him  well, 
and  was  a  prime  favorite  on  the  brig.  Miss  Ankeroo, 
too,  is  the  most  intelligent  woman  I  ever  met.  You  '11 
like  the  Eflinghams  the  better  the  more  you  see  of  them  ; 
for  they  are  what  I  call  a  thoroughly  well-bred  family. 
"What  a  splendid  woman  the  mother  is — so  gentle,  and 
self-possessed,  and  young-looking !  Did  her  sister  re 
semble  her  much  ?" 

No  sooner  was  the  thoughtless  question  out  of  his 
mouth  than  the  youth's  quick  instinct  reproached  him 
for  it.  But  his  uncle's  face,  if  looking,  to  his  fancy,  per 
haps,  a  little  older,  and  even  a  shade  graver  than  before 
the  visit,  indicated  no  particular  discomposure  at  his 
words. 

"Yes,  the  family  likeness  is  strong.  But  I  don't 
think,  Edwin,  that  you  have  yet  mentioned  the  one  who 
chiefly  attracts  you." 


120  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"Why,  of  course,  Mr.  Effingham  has  received  me 
with  the  most  open-handed  welcome  from  the  first." 

"That  is  a  very  poor  evasion,  my  lad.  I'm  afraid 
you  are  forgetting  your  profession  and  the  Cressy  in 
the  fascination  of  these  new  friendships.  You  must  be 
getting  back  to  your  ship  and  duty.  Beauty  in  a  golden 
setting  is  not  for  you,  Edwin,  until  you  can  show  some 
thing  more  than  a  lieutenant's  commission  and  pay." 

The  ingenuous  malingering  sailor  boy  blushed  freely 
at  this  prosaic  home-thrust. 

"  No  harm  is  done  in  loving  to  look  at  a  pretty  girl, 
is  there?"  he  half  stammered.  "You  can't  blame 
me  much  for  that  little  weakness,  when  I  've  had  so  few 
opportunities  for  it  in  my  life — can  you,  Uncle  Will  ?" 

"  Daryl  laid  a  caressing  hand  upon  his  shoulder  and 
regarded  him  with  an  affectionate  smile  : 

"  Blame  ?  God  bless  you,  my  boy  I  no.  I,  too,  have 
lived  in  Arcadia. " 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

THE  CROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN. 

To  describe  one  house  of  civilized  occupation  in  the 
Sarawak  of  1845  is  to  give  the  plan  of  all,  for  each  was 
like  unto  the  other  in  being  quadrangular,  resting  upon 
a  colonnade  of  palm  piles,  having  only  one  spacious 
story,  with  a  central  main  apartment  surrounded  by 
the  lesser  rooms  and  dormitories,  and  standing  within 
palisades  on  tree-embellished  hillocks,  generally  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river.  Five  years  earlier,  when  the  bold 
English  master  of  the  little  Royalist  taught  the  Sultan's 
despairing  governor  or  bandhara,  Muda  Hassim,  how 
to  clear  his  territory  of  rapacious  enemies,  the  houses 


THE  CROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.      121 

of  this  prince  and  his  brother  pangerans  formed  the 
whole  presentable  body  of  the  town  of  Kuchin ;  the 
Malay,  Dyak  and  Chinese  campongs  being  mere  water 
side  lines  of  petty  huts.  Mr.  Dodge,  viewing  the  pros 
pect  from  the  deck  of  an  antimony  schooner  before  this 
aspect  had  been  improved,  declared  that  it  reminded 
him  of  a  "jumble  of  wholesale  corn-cribs,  thatched  with 
old  hay  and  fringed  with  seaside  styes." 

But  it  has  already  been  remarked  that  this  unesthetic 
aggregate  knew  a  rapid  and  ennobling  change  at  the  ad 
vent  of  Bajah  Brooke.  The  Malay  princes  rejoined  the 
court  in  Bruni,  and  such  of  their  mansions  as  were  in 
sufficient  order  to  be  retained  became  the  abodes  of 
the  native  magistracy — the  Patinghi  of  the  Dyaks,  the 
Tumangong  of  the  Malays,  etc. — and  of  many  of  the 
better  class  of  natives,  now  returning  to  a  Kuchin  where 
there  was  no  longer  either  war  or  princely  extortion. 
One  of  the  buildings  erected  for  the  new  Kajah  has 
been  seen  in  possession  of  the  Effinghams ;  houses  for 
the  Europeans  of  the  staff,  not  also  living  there,  sprang 
up,  in  improving  architecture,  on  the  high,  dry  grounds 
around  it,  and  gradually  the  huts  on  the  water  were  left 
almost  wholly  to  sailors  and  fishermen.  Yet  in  all  this 
regeneracy  of  local  habitations  the  indigenous  spirit  of 
precarious  tenure  retained  its  traditional  expression. 
The  homes  of  the  new-comers  might  have  floors  and 
partitions  of  plank,  instead  of  bamboo  and  matting,  and 
might  even  rest  on  iron-wood  piles,  but  they  were  cal 
culated  to  last  only  two  or  three  years.  "Within  that 
period  the  storms  of  the  wet  monsoon  would  make  havoc 
of  the  palm-leaf  "  ataps  "  at  least,  and  to  repair  would 
scarcely  be  more  economical  than  to  reconstruct  alto 
gether.  In  a  country  where  the  ruler's  head-servitor, 
Peter,  enjoyed  only  five  pounds  a  month,  labor  of  all 
grades  was  phenomenally  cheap,  and  the  cost  of  con- 


122  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

structing  a  new  residence  insignificant.  Thus  in  less 
than  six  years  the  English  Eajah  himself  had  three 
different  houses,  and  what  has  been  seen  of  the  one 
occupied  by  our  American  family  needs  only  some  en 
largement  to  represent  that  to  which  attention  is  now 
invited. 

It  was  an  hour  after  the  sunset  meal,  there,  in  the 
same  great  room  that  had  served  during  the  day  as 
court  and  hall  of  judgment.  The  usual  evening  throng 
of  simple-hearted  popular  worshipers  at  the  unosten 
tatious  shrine  of  their  Tuan  Besar  had  glided  in,  to 
touch  his  hand  with  loyal  reverence,  sit  thereafter  for 
half  an  hour  upon  the  floor  near  the  doorway,  watching, 
as  they  chewed  their  betel  and  areca,  his  every  look  and 
movement,  and  then  as  mutely  disappeared  in  the  dark 
ness  without.  The  officers  and  general  guests  of  the 
household  were  withdrawn  to  their  respective  quarters 
or  dispersed  elsewhere  ;  and  now  the  Rajah  led  his  one 
remaining  companion  to  his  library,  where,  taking 
chairs  near  a  silk-curtained  window  looking  out  upon 
dim  forest  foliage  and  drawing  in  the  sweet  odor  of 
tropical  flowers,  the  two  men  lighted  cigars  and  re 
laxed  for  sociable  colloquy. 

A  sultry  glow,  retained  yet  by  vast  convolutions  of 
showery  clouds  in  the  western  sky,  gave  enough  interior 
illumination  to  show  well-stored  bookcase,  arms  formed 
into  trophies  against  the  walls,  cabinet  of  native  mam 
malian  and  ornithological  specimens,  desk,  table,  guitar, 
matted  floor,  ship's  divan,  and,  most  light-catching  of 
all,  over  the  primitive  open  clay  fireplace  with  chimney 
of  ship's  funnel,  an  oil  painting  of  an  elderly  lady  of 
sweetly  gracious  presence. 

Through  the  smoke  curling  from  his  lips  the  Rajah's 
friend  eyed  this  picture  for  some  moments  in  silence, 
and  then  made  it  the  occasion  of  his  first  remark ;" 


THE  GROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.      123 

"That  picture  of  your  mother  grows  upon  me, 
Brooke.  The  painter  seems  to  me  to  have  caught  the 
very  expression  she  always  had  when  you  were  men 
tioned.  I  '11  warrant  the  dear  woman  talked  to  him  of 
you  often  enough  in  her  sittings." 

"Ah,  most  partial  of  parents  I"  responded  the  other 
in  a  tone  scarcely  less  despondent  than  tender.  "What 
can  I  ever  gain  here  to  compensate  me  for  never  hearing 
her  voice  in  this  world  again  ?" 

"For  such  a  loss  there  can  be  no  earthly  compensa 
tion,  my  friend.  That  I  feel  and  know.  Her  faith  in 
you  was  really  beautiful  for  its  implicit  unreserve.  She 
thought  you  could  do  everything.  I  shall  never  forget 
how,  when  I  last  saw  her  at  your  old  home,  three  years 
ago,  during  my  English  trip  about  that  Chancery  tor 
ment  of  mine,  her  face  lighted  up  with  fresh  motherly 
pride  as  she  handed  me  that  treatise  of  yours  against 
the  Jesuitical '  Article  90  '  of  the  Oxford  Tracts  which 
you  had  sent  her." 

"  She  believed  in  me,  Daryl,  beyond  any  other  being 
in  the  world.  I  honor  the  memory  of  my  good  father ; 
he  was  a  clear-headed  practical  man  of  affairs,  and 
wished  his  son  to  lead  an  unsentimental,  prosperous 
career  in  his  own  old  service.  But  my  mother  was  not 
only  always  indulgent  to  my  dream  of  winning  an  inde 
pendent  name,  but  placed  outspoken  confidence  in  my 
capability  of  so  doing.  When  I  went  back  home  from 
my  shipwreck  on  the  Isle  of  Wight,  sixteen  years  ago, 
and  confided  to  her  that  I  believed  my  Indian  cadetship 
would  be  lost  by  the  delay,  she  told  me  that  it  was  be 
cause  I  was  born  for  something  higher .  And  that  she 
always  believed.  You  remember  how  you  and  I  were 
shipmates  after  that,  on  the  old  Castle  Huntley,  going 
from  Calcutta  to  Hong  Kong,  and  became  interested 
together  in  Borneo.  As  you  know,  so  well,  Daryl,  she 


124  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

entered  enthusiastically  into  my  ensuing  ambition  for 
this  Island,  more  like  a  sister  than  an  elder.  And  she, 
and  my  lawyer  friend,  Templer,  and  you,  have  been  the 
staff,  scrip  and  buckler  of  my  whole  best  life  I" 

The  Rajah's  manner  of  speech  was  so  excited  with 
commingling  ardor  and  filial  regret,  that  Daryl,  after 
leaning  forward  a  moment  to  clasp  his  hand,  thought  it 
kind  to  divert  the  strain  of  thought. 

"I  have  often  wondered,"  he  resumed,  musingly, 
"  whether  you  ever  felt  any  particular  literary  ambi 
tion  ?" 

"  What  put  that  into  your  head  ?" 

"  Why,  you  remember  the  newspaper  we  conducted 
amongst  ourselves  on  the  Huntley,  and  your  liberal  con 
tributions  to  it." 

A  pleasant  laugh  greeted  this  youthful  reminis 
cence. 

"  I  do,  indeed,  old  friend.  And  those  same  contribu 
tions  were  ultimately  the  beneficent  means  of  bringing 
me  to  my  sober  senses  about  my  literary  genius.  You 
recollect  how  I  signed  them  ?" — with  another  laugh. 

"It  was  'Cholera  Morbus,'  wasn't  it  ?"— and  they 
laughed  together. 

"Well,  no  man  who  could  tolerate  such  a  clumsy 
nom  de  plume  as  that,  was  ever  born  to  cut  a  figure  as 
an  imaginative  writer.  In  my  later  years,  when  I  had 
become  acute  enough  to  see  all  that  such  a  thing  meant, 
that  specimen  of  what  I  thought  happily  humorous  in 
my  poetic  days,  recurred  to  me  as  a  wet  blanket  for 
every  future  literary  aspiration.  The  stupidest  of  born- 
scribes  would  have  been  more  felicitous  of  invention 
than  that,  in  his  very  cradle." 

"I  admit  your  logic,"  assented  the  Colonel,  with  a 
pensive  puff;  "and  now  it  will  be  only  fair  for  you 
to  remind  me  of  that  '  Tragedy  '  you  encouraged  me  to 


THE  GROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.     125 

put  into  manuscript  while  we  were  coming  around  the 
Cape  in  the  Royalist." 

"  Upon  my  word,  Daryl,"  laughed  his  friend,  again, 
"  you  are  magnanimous  to  recall  that !  What  a  'grand, 
gloomy  and  peculiar '  Manfred  of  a  fellow  you  were, 
occasionally,  in  those  days.  Almost  as  ungracious  as 
poor  Hedland." 

"  And  have  not  gotten  over  it  yet,"  was  the  answer, 
given  with  a  heavy  inspiration.  "  I  think  you  and 
Hedland  are  really  the  only  men  in  the  world  with 
whom  I  ever  have  the  slightest  disposition  to  show  my 
self  a  social  being.  What  a  thousand  pities  it  is  that 
Larry  cannot  be  fair-minded  to  you." 

The  Rajah  waved  his  cigar  in  an  impulse  expressive 
of  helplessness  on  that  point : 

"  He  was  perversely  intractable  from  the  first  hour  of 
our  actual  association  in  a  common  undertaking.  In 
that  whole  long  voyage,  when  was  he  ever  once  in 
thoroughly  good-humor,  except  when  we  picked  up 
those  Portuguese  men-of-war — Physalice  Atlanticce,  I 
think  they  're  called — going  down  with  the  Calliope  and 
Grecian,  from  Eio  ?  The  little  purple-and-pink  blad 
ders  made  him  as  pleased  as  a  child  with  a  toy.  No 
more  men  of  science  for  me,  again  !  At  Singapore 
he  dropped  us  as  unceremoniously  as  though  we  had 
been  no  more  to  each  other  than  barely  endured  ac 
cidental  associates  of  an  ordinary  sea-voyage." 

"Yet  he  has  some  noble  traits,"  suggested  Daryl, 
musingly. 

"  I  am  sure  of  it.  But  he  is  plainly  not  the  kind  of 
man  to  be  comfortable  himself,  or  make  others  com 
fortable,  in  any  close  relation  of  mutual  aim.  I  call 
him  a  chronic  Incompatible.  Who  could  fancy  Hed 
land  ever  being  married  ?  His  family  must  be  all  eccen 
tric.  There 's  that  brother,  living,  a  prince,  amongst 


126  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

the  wild  rajahs  of  Lombok.  Probably  if  the  Doctor 
had  not  been  so  infatuated  by  this  mias  we  hear  so 
much  about,  he  might  have  been  vexing  the  courts  of 
Lombok  before  now." 

Once  more  the  friends  laughed  softly,  in  unison,  at 
what  was  whimsically  amusing  to  both. 

"  I  must  see  this  Oshonsee,"  the  Colonel  said.  "  They 
tell  me  that  Larry  actually  carries  the  beast  with  him 
to  Singapore  and  Bruni. " 

"Where  did  he  find  the  name,  Daryl  ?  Anyjemin- 
iscence,  do  you  suppose,  of  my  New  Foundlander, 
Humshee,  on  the  Royalist?" 

"  It  is  said  that  the  mias,  when  excited,  utters  sounds 
something  like  such  a  word." 

A  brief  silence  ensued,  during  which  the  two  cigars 
glowed  liked  fixed  stars  in  the  deepening  darkness. 

"  I  think,  Daryl,"  resumed  the  Kajah,  "  that  Makota 
actually  believed  he  was  securing  a  rival  Tuan  Besar, 
for  his  side  in  politics,  when  he  took  so  much  trouble 
to  procure  this  phenomenal  animal  for  our  crusty  old 
friend.  He  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  Hedland 
had  some  pique  against  me,  that  his  hobby  was  any 
thing  from  beetle  to  monkey,  and  that  it  would  be  a 
great  stroke  of  statecraft  to  arraign  Englishman  against 
Englishman." 

"But  you  surely  do  not  believe,  Brooke,  that  Law 
rence  would  ever  lend  himself  to  any  scheme  inimical 
to  yourself  amongst  these  wrangling  heathen  ?"  queried 
his  friend,  with  some  heat. 

"No  more  than  I  would  believe  it  of  you,"  was  the 
hearty  response. 

These  two  Britons  had  a  stanch  confidence  in  the 
loyal  compatriotism  of  a  third  fellow  countryman  in  a 
foreign  country,  sufficient  in  itself  to  stamp  them  as 
exceptional  specimens  of  their  race. 


THE  CROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.     127 

"I  see  you  cling  to  your  books  yet,"  remarked  Daryl, 
motioning  with  his  cigar  toward  the  bookcase,  once 
a  portion  of  the  Royalist's  cabin  furniture. 

"Yes,  there  they  are — Lardner,  and  Jane  Austen, 
and  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  and  Dickens  cheek  by  jowl," 
was  the  cheery  answer.  "Do  you  know,  although  I 
have  roared  over  'Pickwick,'  and  am  delighted  with 
Pecksniif  and  Sairey  Gamp  in  this  last  book  of  Dickens', 
my  favorite  funny  character  of  all  literature  is  that  pre 
posterous  Mrs.  Bennett,  in  Jane  Austen's  '  Pride  and 
Prejudice?'" 

"  She  is  certainly  a  very  British  matron,  of  a  certain 
class,"  assented  the  soldier. 

"I've  met  many  such  among  the  better  style  of 
country  folks  in  my  jaunts  to  old  Lackington  and  Hil- 
lingdon.  Ah!  Will  Daryl," — in  a  tone  of  luxurious 
re  very, — "what  wouldn't  both  of  us  give  for  another 
sunny  walk,  to-morrow  morning,  in  Water  Lane,  among 
those  lovely  blue  veronicas !  Do  you  remember  our 
week's  pedestrian  adventure  westward  from  Penzance, 
when  heather,  furze,  crag,  cliff  and  sea  were  glorious  in 
such  May  sunlight  as  I  have  never  seen  anywhere  out 
of  old  England  ?" 

"You  deserved  a  more  cheerful  companion  than  I 
was  then,  Brooke.  How  often  have  you  been  home 
sick  since  you  came  to  Borneo  ?" 

"  Never,  my  dear  boy,  except  for  an  hour  or  so,  when 
my  sister's  letter  came  with  news  of  our  mother's  death !" 
exclaimed  the  ruler  of  Sarawak,  in  tones  of  peculiar 
fervor.  "My  mother's  God  knows  that  my  home-life 
was  anything  rather  than  unhappy,"  he  went  on,  as 
intensely  ;  "but  the  most  delicious  hour  of  my  exist 
ence  was  when  the  Royalist  passed  up  Prince's  Strait 
from  Java  Head,  and  anchored  in  Anjer  roads.  It  was 
being  in  the  gateway  of  my  new  kingdom,  with  the 


128  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

future  all  before  my  imagination  in  the  colors  of  fairy 
land  !  You  must  remember  that  day  in  May,  only  six 
years  ago,  how  I  was  a  very  boy  in  my  noisy  glee  over 
everything  ;  the  lake-like,  shallow  Java  sea  ;  the  grace 
ful  little  islands  ;  the  picturesquely  indented  shore  and 
superb  mountains.  Even  the  canoes  instantly  swarm 
ing  about  us,  with  their  motley  of  cocoanuts,  yams, 
shells,  fowls,  sweet  potatoes,  monkeys,  parrots,  and 
what  not,  were  things  of  incredible  charm  to  my  en- 
glamored  eyes  !  At  last  I  felt  that  I  had  come  finally 
within  the  magic  circle  of  the  life  I  had  dreamed  over 
for  years.  No  misgivings  vexed  me  then,  as  they  did 
after  you  bade  me  good-by  at  Singapore,  to  return  to 
Calcutta,  and  I  sailed  down  the  Strait  to  find  my  real 
Borneo.  My  whole  feeling  was  that  I  and  our  little 
company  had  come  upon  a  mission  ennobling  to  hu 
manity,  and  ought  to  be  blest  in  it." 

Colonel  Daryl  caught  the  fire  of  the  glowing  recollec 
tion,  and  replied  sympathetically : 

"  So  you  have  been,  and  will  be  !  See  what  you  have 
already  made  of  this  Kuchin  here — your  '  rising  Carth 
age,'  as  you  call  it;  and  the  whole  Christian  world 
echoes  the  fame  of  your  having  struck  more  real  terror 
to  the  pirate  dens  of  the  Archipelago  than  the  power  of 
three  strong  nations  had  been  able  to  excite  in  a  hun 
dred  years  before." 

"I  have  done  something,  I  think,"  rejoined  Kajah 
Brooke  ;  the  impetus  of  strong  feeling  exhibited  in  his 
rising,  and  measuredly  pacing  from  window  to  door  in 
the  dim  room.  "You  would  have  appreciated  that 
fight  at  Patusen,  up  the  Batang-Lupar,  last  year, 
Daryl.  While  the  boats  of  the  Dido  and  the  Phlege- 
thon  were  engaging  the  forts,  the  marines  and  my 
faithful  Dyaks,  under  the  brave  old  patinghi,  Ali,  and 
Pangeran  Budrudeen,  charged  magnificently  on  shore. 


THE  CROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.      120 

The  wild  scenery  of  tree-hung  river,  spear-lit  jungle, 
echoing  mountains  and  encragged  pirate-fortress ;  the 
noise  of  guns  and  men  warring  on  both  land  and  water  ; 
the  flaming  pirate  dens ;  the  strange  dresses  of  Arab 
shereef,  Malay  prince  and  Dyak  sea-wolf ;  the  uniforms 
of  our  men,  and  their  bayonets  showing  through  the 
smoke  at  one  side  of  the  picture,  and  the  masts  and 
yards  of  a  frigate  at  anchor  looming  spectrally  at  the 
other — it  was  a  wonderful  sight,  wonderful !" 

"My  dear  Brooke,  after  all,  you  are  a  soldier  at 
heart,"  the  Colonel  pointedly  observed,  with  profes 
sional  enthusiasm. 

"Don't  say  that,  my  friend,"  entreated  the  other 
quickly,  stopping  in  his  walk.  "  Fine  deeds  of  arms  stir 
my  admiration  as  a  man  of  dramatic  sensibilities,  and  I 
shall  never  shun  the  sword  sanctified  by  duty  ;  but  if  I 
am  here  in  this  poor  Dyak  land  as  a  fighting  man, 
coveting  manual  conquest,  my  soul  should  plead  blood- 
guiltiness  for  the  fall  of  the  gallant  Wade  of  the  Dido, 
fearless  Steward,  my  faithful  old  Dyak  patinghi,  Ali, 
and  all  the  loyal  humbler  followers  who  have  perished 
in  our  battles !  But  I  hate  this  warfare,  this  unchris 
tian  butchery  of  blind  heathen  wretches,  who  only  need 
to  know  that  my  country  does  indeed  stand  at  my  back, 
to  be  awed  into  submission  to  their  own  redemption. 
This  is  why  I  want  England  to  take  possession  of  La- 
buan  Island,  where  Bruni  and  the  whole  "Western  coast 
can  be  kept  under  guardianship  of  a  Christian  flag. 
This  is  why  I  am  anxious  for  the  Queen  to  knight  me — 
that  I  may  have  the  moral  aid  of  the  naturally  power 
ful  appeal  of  such  an  investment  to  the  respect  of  these 
Eastern  worshipers  of  titular  rank.  This  is  why  I 
shall  glory  in  going  up  so  soon  with  Sir  Thomas  Coch- 
rane's  ships  to  Bruni,  to  demand  from  the  Sultan  repa 
ration  for  his  dishonoring  a  humane  British  treaty." 


130  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Vivid  lightning,  followed  by  thunder  long  resounding 
among  the  Matang  Mountains,  came  to  their  eyes  and 
ears  like  a  salute  of  great  guns. 

"  There  awakes  the  artillery  of  the  Soldiers  of  the 
Cross,"  said  Colonel  Daryl  with  reverence. 

The  two  friends  were  now  ready  to  part  for  the  night, 
after  a  conversation  in  which  each  had  shown  himself 
more  freely  to  the  other  than  either  ever  did  to  the 
nearest  associate  besides.  Servants  with  lights  came 
noiselessly  to  answer  the  summoning  gong,  and  the 
Kajah,  going  first  to  the  door  of  his  friend's  dormitory, 
withdrew,  even  unwontedly  thoughtful  of  countenance, 
to  his  own  chamber. 

Arrived  in  that  unadorned  refuge  of  many  a  proud, 
many  an  unsuspected  humble  hour,  Mr.  Brooke  mo 
tioned  his  attendants  to  retire,  and  then,  abstractedly 
extinguishing  both  of  the  candles  left  upon  the  table, 
drew  a  chair  to  the  window  to  look  out  at  the  gathering 
storm.  Bustling  in  the  first  gust  of  a  shower,  the  palms 
seen  from  the  casement  had  a  semblance  of  gigantic 
draped  forms,  swaying  in  ranks  amid  a  gloom  in  which 
the  moan  of  the  wind  sounded  as  though  they  might 
themselves  be  uttering  it.  No  rain  had  fallen  yet.  The 
Eajah  was  drawing  back  the  hand  he  had  extended  to 
test  that  fact  when,  by  an  instinct  too  quickly  acting  to 
account  for  itself,  he  wheeled  his  chair  swiftly  round  to 
face  inward. 

"  Tuan  Besar  is  not  alone." 

The  voice  was  almost  simultaneous  with  a  flash  re 
vealing  a  man  in  Malay  dress  standing  only  a  few  paces 
back  from  the  window,  his  arms  folded  and  his  face  to 
the  Rajah. 

"  I  know  you,  Makota  !" 

Not  the  slightest  discomposure  qualified  the  English 
man's  tone.  Within  reach  of  his  right  hand  was  a 


THE  CROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.     131 

dressing-table  on  which  stood  a  case  of  pistols,  but  he 
made  no  movement  to  touch  it. 

"You  do  not  fear  me?"  came  the  voice  from  the 
darkness ;  not  harsh,  nor  of  much  volume,  but  with  a 
certain  metallic  property  in  its  rise  and  fall. 

"I  do  not,  Pangeran.  If  you  intended  harm  to  me, 
you  could  have  used  your  kris  a  moment  since.  Now, 
we  are  face  to  face  and  in  the  dark. ' ' 

A  more  politic  answer  could  not  have  been  given  to 
such  a  questioner.  It  was  in  the  true  vein  of  Oriental 
diplomacy  —  either  a  compliment  or  a  menace.  The 
hearer  might  take  it  as  a  tribute  to  his  scorn  of  assassi 
nation  and  worthiness  of  the  frank  trust  leaving  him 
yet  in  the  cover  of  night,  or  as  a  contemptuous  intima 
tion  that,  having  lacked  the  hardihood  to  strike  before 
discovery,  he  was  not  to  be  dreaded  when  confronted 
on  equal  terms.  Makota  responded  as  characteristic 
ally  : 

"The  Malay's  skin  may  be  darker  than  the  orang 
sirani's,  but  his  heart  is  white.  The  grain  of  tin  comes 
black  from  the  mine,  but  within  is  a  brightness  more 
than  silver. ' ' 

By  the  lightning,  now  flashing  nearer  and  more  fre 
quently,  the  master  of  the  chamber  could  discern  that 
his  uninvited  visitor  had  a  look  and  bearing,  fitfully  as 
they  were  shown,  more  indicative  of  prompt  purpose 
than  was  at  all  usual  to  his  tortuous  genius. 

"You  are  not  here  to-night,  Pangeran,  to  talk  pan- 
tuns — poems,"  said  the  Kajah.  "How  came  you  to 
enter  so  secretly  ?  My  door  is  open  to  any  man  in  Pulo 
Kalamantan." 

"I  would  not  meet  Budrudeen,"  was  the  answer,  in 
a  low,  harsher  tone. 

"  The  brave  Pangeran  is  not  here  yet." 

"  I  wished  to  see  Tuan  Besar  alone,"  returned  the 


132  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Malay,  in  a  hissing  whisper.  "From  my  prahu  I 
watched  until  the  gong  called  for  lights.  I  am  no 
stranger  here." 

"Three  years  ago  your  own  house  was  upon  this 
spot,  I  know,  Makota,  and  your  own  conscience  may 
tell  you  why  it  is  now  necessary  for  you  to  come  in  by 
a  window  when  the  night  shows  no  stars." 

"  But  not  as  an  enemy,  Rajah.  I  stood  at  your  elbow 
when  you  put  out  the  lights,  and  you  saw  me  not. 
Would  an  enemy  have  spared  you  then  ?" 

"Enemy,  or  not,  you  have  chosen  for  yourself.  I 
have  been  no  enemy  of  yours,  except  as  you  elected  to 
plot  and  instigate  against  my  action  on  behalf  of  the 
integrity  of  your  own  sovereign.  You  might  have 
been  my  best-esteemed  friend  in  this  island.  When  I 
first  came  to  Sarawak,  who  but  you  and  young  Budru- 
deen  were  my  chosen  counsellors  ?  I  selected  you, 
Pangeran,  for  your  intelligence,  your  superiority  to  the 
ways  of  other  princes  around  you,  to  lend  me  special 
help  in  saving  the  province  from  utter  ruin.  At  Sinia- 
wan,  when  you  and  your  associate,  Subtu,  were  hard 
pressed  by  the  rebels,  I  and  my  twelve  Europeans  gave 
you  that  great  victory  on  the  plain.  Budrudeen  and 
the  noble  young  Illanaon,  Si  Tundo,  were  my  aides  in 
thus  enabling  you  to  return  to  Muda  Hassim's  presence 
a  conqueror,  and  be  by  him  exalted  as  such  before  the 
Sultan.  And  how  did  you  repay  me?  Because  the 
Sultan  invested  me  with  a  rajahship  not  wanted  by 
yourself,  you  became  from  thenceforth  my  enemy,  as 
well  as  the  bandhara's.  You  entrapped  my  friend,  Si 
Tundo,  to  a  treacherous  death,  while  I  was  absent  in 
Singapore.  You  sought  to  bribe  my  servant  to  place 
arsenic  in  my  rice.  You  secretly  prompted  the  Sultan 
of  Sambas  to  help  the  Sarebas  and  Sakarran  sea-wolves 
against  Tuan  Keppel  and  myself.  You  were  the  known 


THE  CEO 88  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.     133 

adviser  of  the  pirate  Shereef  Sahib  at  Patusen,  and 
your  own  piratical  den  was  burned  with  his,  and  your 
cannon  captured  by  Budrudeen.  And  how  did  I  pun 
ish  your  murders  and  treachery  ?  When  it  was  for  me 
but  to  have  dropped  my  handkerchief  and  a  score  of 
krisses  would  have  drank  your  blood,  I  only  banished 
you  from  Sarawak.  "When,  after  the  last  fight  on  the 
Sakarran,  you  were  my  prisoner,  caught  red-handed,  I 
had  you  brought  to  me  on  the  deck  of  the  Phlegethon, 
and  told  you  you  were  free  !" 

Sitting  with  his  back  to  the  fiercer-growing  elemental 
strife  outside,  and  his  eyes  fixed  to  catch  every  change 
revealed  by  the  flashes  upon  the  face  confronting  him 
within,  the  Englishman  went  over  this  notorious  pas 
sage  of  recent  Borneon  history  with  a  dispassionate 
calmness  of  narrative  made  the  more  like  an  irrevoca 
ble  utterance  of  the  passionless  Fates  themselves  by 
the  accompaniment  of  thunder  and  rain. 

"  It  is  Allah's  truth  !"  confessed  the  Malay,  his  voice 
rising  shrilly.  "I  have  been  against  you,  Tuan  Besar, 
and  you  have  spared  my  life  when  it  was  in  your  hands. 
But  this  night  I  am  here  as  your  friend,  your  slave — I 
swear  it  by  the  beard  of  the  Prophet !  Trust  me,  and 
answer  what  I  would  ask  :  Shall  you  go  with  the  ships 
to  Bruni?" 

"  You  know  it,  Pangeran." 

"Will  the  ships  stay  at  Point  Sapo,  or  go  up  to  the 
city?" 

"  They  will  anchor  before  Bruni." 

A  tremendous  clap  of  thunder  and  blinding  burst  of 
light  made  the  other  flinch  and  pause  before  replying  : 

"Usop  will  not  yield." 

"  Then  the  guns  will  settle  it,  Makota.  Those  Eng 
lish  sailors  must  be  surrendered  to  the  ships  of  Eng 
land,  if  Bruni  is  destroyed  to  secure  it." 


134  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

By  this  time  the  rain  was  falling  in  a  vertical  torrent 
through  air  unstirred  by  the  faintest  breeze  ;  the  light 
ning  flashing  incessantly  to  a  continuous  rumble  of 
thunder.  It  was  the  culmination  of  one  of  those  fre 
quent  showers  of  the  dry  monsoon  in  Borneo,  wrhen, 
after  hours,  perhaps,  of  ominous  gathering,  the  tempest 
seems  to  melt  all  at  once  into  a  windless  space  of  water 
and  fire,  and  then  be  over  as  suddenly  as  it  began.  In 
the  glare  at  this  moment  filling  the  bed-chamber  the 
tawny  face  of  the  Malay  prince  was  like  a  livid  mask, 
the  coal-black  beard  and  eyebrows  intensifying  its 
pallor. 

"Turn  those  guns  upon  the  palace,  Kajah,  and  the 
musnud  of  Borneo  is  yours  !"  cried  Makota,  involun 
tarily  stepping  forward,  to  be  heard  above  the  storm, 
his  eyes  glittering  and  white  teeth  showing.  "  What  is 
Hamet  AH  but  an  old  woman,  fit  only  for  his  harem 
and  talking  jars  ?  What  is  Muda  Hassim  but  a  dotard, 
and  Budrudeen  but  a  boy  ?  Think  you  Usop  and  Ma 
kota  could  have  opposed  you,  Tuan  Besar,  if  this  bab 
bling  usurper  of  the  musnud  had  not  been  ever  secretly 
false  to  you  ?  His  very  title  of  Sultan  is  a  coinage  of 
the  foreign  sirani,  whom  he  has  flattered  for  the  sake 
of  their  gifts.  Strike  him  down  with  your  guns,  and 
Makota  will  summon  fifty  Pangerans,  and  the  shereefs, 
Sahib  and  Jaffer,  with  their  valiant  Dyaks,  to  make  the 
Rajah  of  Sarawak  the  true  lang  de  per  tuam— Lord 
who  Rules — of  Pulo  Kalamantan  !" 

The  excited  speaker  poured  out  these  words  with 
such  resistless  impetuosity  that  his  amazed  auditor 
could  not  restrain  him  until  the  whole  perfidious  propo 
sition  had  been  uttered.  Then,  however,  the  Rajah 
was  upon  his  feet  in  a  wrathful  instant,  and  the  gong 
crashed  loudly  at  his  blow. 

"Out  of  the  window  with  you,  audacious  traitor!" 


THE  CROSS  KNOWS  BUT  ONE  CROWN.     135 

he  ejaculated,  fiercely ;  moving  aside  a  pace,  and  point 
ing,  in  the  dimming  lightning-flash,  to  the  low  case 
ment  :  "  Traitor  alike  to  your  sovereign,  your  faith, 
and  your  blood — away  !  before  those  come  who  may  be 
less  merciful  than  I." 

Gliding  noiselessly  to  the  open  window,  and  resting 
with  one  knee  on  the  sill  for  a  moment,  a  shadowy  tur- 
baned  form  against  the  fainter-glimmering,  hushing 
outer  gloom ;  the  foiled  tempter  had  the  temerity  to 
speak  once  more,  though  there  were  sounds  of  ap 
proaching  feet. 

"  The  hand  you  have  scorned  knows  how  to  find  the 
kris." 

"  Out  with  you,  miscreant !" 

"This  for  your  friends  !"  hissed  the  Malay,  leaping 
forth ;  the  lights,  coming  into  the  room  at  the  instant, 
reaching  no  more  of  him  than  was  like  a  second's  fall 
ing  star  in  the  glint  thrown  back  by  drawn  steel. 

"My  friends!"  echoed  the  Rajah,  as  he  turned  to 
dismiss  his  servants  again.  "Ah,  a  vain  boast,  the 
rascal !" 

By  the  fresh  candles  he  sat  down  to  re-read  the  last 
letters  from  his  English  home,  and  was  presently  lost 
peacefully  in  them,  as  the  storm  in  the  sweet  breath  of 
grateful  flowers. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

OSHONSEE  AT  HOME. 

HALF  a  day's  sail  up  the  Sarawak  from  Kuchin  are 
the  war-scarred  ruins  of  the  once-thriving  Dyak  village 
of  Leda  Tanah,  where  the  river  divides  into  two 
branches :  that  to  right  going  past  Siniawan  and  the 
scene  of  the  decisive  rebel  defeat  in  1841 ;  while  the 
left,  skirting  a  pebbly  sandbank  formed  by  the  junction 
of  the  two  branches,  runs  through  a  dim  archway  of 
mighty  trees  and  creepers  into  the  mountains. 

At  anchor  in  the  opening  of  this  latter  umbrageous 
vista  was  the  Weltevreden  awaiting  Mr.  Effingham  and 
his  exploring  party  from  the  Simunjon  region,  whither 
they  had  gone,  by  sea  or  river,  as  happened  to  be  im 
mediately  practicable,  under  the  generously  subsidized 
guidance  of  Pa  Jenna. 

Mr.  Effingham,  Mr.  Dodge,  and  the  Kajah's  represen 
tative,  Mr.  Williamson,  had  undertaken  the  adventur 
ous  trip  in  company  ;  the  latter  gentleman  essaying  it 
as  preliminary  to  a  more  extended  official  progress  ap 
pointed  for  later  in  the  year;  and  it  was  upon  Mr. 
Dodge's  urgent  solicitation  that  his  chief  consented  to 
rest  for  awhile  in  the  home  of  their  Dyak  pilot,  on  the 
way  from  the  point  of  embarkation  on  the  prahu  to  the 
deeper  waters  where  the  brig  was  to  be  found.  Their 
return  was  by  a  course  different  from  that  of  their  ad 
vance,  which  had  been  by  schooner  along  the  coast  to 
Sadong  river,  and  up  that  stream  to  the  Simunjon.  It 
gave  them  a  signal  experience  of  the  hard  travel  of  a 
wild  country ;  and  when  the  prahu  of  the  Dyak  chief 
was  reached  on  the  Sarawak  branch,  and  the  Weltevre- 
136 


OSHONSEE  AT  HOME.  137 

den  known  to  be  only  a  few  miles  farther  on,  all  were 
glad  enough  at  the  approaching  end  of  the  journey  to 
assent  to  almost  any  reasonable  proposition.  More 
over,  as,  by  Mr.  Effingham's  invitation,  Colonel  Daryl 
was  to  have  come  up  by  the  brig  on  his  visit  to  Doctor 
Hedland,  the  merchant  thought  it  friendly  to  take  the 
chance  of  finding  that  gentleman,  and  having  his  so 
ciety  back  to  Kuchin. 

Going  down  the  mountain  stream  toward  its  wood- 
walled  entrance  into  the  main  river,  a  stretch  of  rice 
fields,  primitively  trenched  and  embanked,  was  passed, 
and  then,  half  way  up  the  steep  slant  of  a  densely 
wooded  hill,  the  travelers  beheld  the  village  of  Pa 
Jenna  and  the  Naturalist. 

Not  only  were  a  series  of  bamboo  ladders  necessary 
for  the  scaling  of  the  acclivity  to  the  woodland  founda 
tion  of  this  lofty  hamlet,  but  a  vertical  ascent  of  more 
than  thirty  feet  had  yet  to  be  accomplished  by  similar 
means  ;  for  the  one  great  house,  five  hundred  feet  long, 
was  elevated  that  distance  into  the  air  on  a  decapitated 
grove  of  iron-wood.  Mr.  Dodge  instinctively  took  the 
lead  even  of  the  Illanaon  Dyak  in  this  arduous  sur 
mounting ;  with  the  remark  that  he  was  "inured  to 
every  climb  ;"  and  exhibited  so  many  feats  of  muscu 
lar  agility  that  his  less  suicidal  followers  exchanged 
notes  of  impatient  wrath. 

Arriving  finally  at  the  level  of  the  vast  human  eyrie, 
the  climber  emerged  upon  an  enormous  veranda,  or 
gallery,  fully  six  yards  in  width,  with  stout  bamboo 
flooring,  and  a  fence  of  bamboo  pickets  lashed  with 
rattan  along  the  edge,  where  the  tops  of  palms  ap 
peared  ;  this  airy  platform  extending  unbrokenly 
around  the  whole  one-housed  village  of  nearly  three 
hundred  people.  Narrow  doors,  or  gates,  opened 
upon  it,  at  short  intervals,  from  the  adjoining  quar- 


138  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

ters  of  fifty  families,  and  at  longer  intervals  stood 
benches  bearing  stone  slabs,  which  were  the  culinary 
fireplaces  of  the  community.  Only  by  occasional  vari 
ation  of  height  in  the  peaked  roofs  of  palm  "  ataps,"  as 
one  addition  after  another  had  been  made,  could  any 
particular  habitation  be  distinguished  from  its  neigh 
bor,  except  at  the  centre  of  the  row,  where  a  taller, 
round  structure,  with  conical  top,  broke  the  sky-line 
picturesquely.  This  was  the  head-house  of  the  village, 
devoted  in  the  upper  part  to  the  "  smoked  "  heads  won 
by  the  warriors  in  days  prior  to  Sarawak  civilization, 
and  in  the  lower  to  the  sleeping  accommodation  of  the 
unmarried  men. 

Few  human  figures,  and  those  apparently  decrepit 
old  people  and  nearly  nude  children,  were  scattered 
over  the  long  bamboo  walk  ;  for  husbands  and  brothers 
were  away  fishing,  or  hunting  turtles'  eggs,  or  perhaps 
on  trading  prahus  ;  and  wives  and  sisters  were  not  yet 
returned  from  their  work  in  the  rice-fields.  Pa  Jenna, 
who  was  the  Orang-Kaya,  or  chief  man,  of  this  now 
deserted  village,  waited  until  some  of  the  guard  and 
sailors  of  their  boat  had  brought  up  the  nankeen  cloth, 
gunpowder,  confectionery,  beads  and  Chinese  toys, 
which  Mr.  Emngham  designed  leaving  as  presents, 
and  then  led  the  way  to  his  own  private  quarters, 
near  the  head-house.  Very  readily  the  merchant  and 
Mr.  Williamson  followed,  being  inclined  for  shade  and 
rest,  and  willing  to  evade  the  attention  they  and  their 
train  were  attracting  from  such  villagers  as  were  at 
home.  Not  so,  however,  Mr.  Dodge,  who,  feeling 
"first-rate  "  in  that  rarefied  air,  as  he  expressed  him 
self,  and  catching  sight  of  an  object  of  interest  some 
distance  off,  was  disposed  for  a  brief  promenade  before 
retiring  in-doors. 

The  object  of  interest  was  sitting  in  a  huddled  pos- 


OSHONSEE  AT  HOME.  139 

ture  upon  a  bench  of  cane-work  against  the  front  of  the 
last  house  of  the  row,  and,  on  more  particular  inspec 
tion,  had  a  European  aspect,  that  might  well  have  ex 
cited  the  curiosity  of  all  the  new-comers,  if  they  had 
been  disposed  at  the  time  to  notice  it.  For  more  than 
a  moment  the  keen-eyed  gentleman  from  Singapore  sus 
pected  that  this  might  be  the  ungracious  naturalist 
himself,  purposely  abstaining  from  recognizing  visitors, 
whom  he  might  be  likely  to  view  in  the  light  of  unwel 
come  intruders.  The  drooping  attitude  suggested  ad 
vanced  years,  not  to  speak  of  what  looked  like  a  cane 
under  the  chin  ;  and  the  outline  of  the  costume,  except 
ing  the  round,  peaked  hat  common  to  the  country,  was 
that  of  civilized  dress.  Willing  to  conciliate  the  suppo 
sitions  Doctor  by  early  civility,  with  a  view  to  the  re 
newal  of  a  certain  zoological  proposal,  Mr.  Dodge 
advanced  cautiously  to  a  nearer  view,  but  went  slower 
and  slower  as  more  of  the  details  of  the  motionless 
form  became  distinct  to  him.  Now  he  saw,  that,  while 
coat  and  trousers  were  undoubtedly  the  rusty  black 
articles  familiar  to  the  stocks  of  an  army  of  old-clothes 
dealers,  the  supposed  cane  was  one  of  the  sticks  used 
by  Dyak  women  to  beat  out  cotton  before  spinning,  and 
that  an  empty  tobacco-pipe  was  held  against  the  proper 
aperture  in  a  marvelously  bearded  face  by  means  of  a 
perforated  strip  of  palm-leaf  fastened  behind  the  head. 

Soon  assured  that  it  could  not  be  Doctor  Hedland  he 
was  approaching,  the  curious  investigator  was  fairly 
stealthy  in  his  step  at  last,  until  almost  upon  the  inert 
sitter.  Then,  with  an  actual  skip,  he  finally  confronted 
his  puzzling  object,  and,  stooping  unceremoniously  for 
a  closer  view  of  the  face,  slapped  a  knee  resoundingly. 

"  Upon  my  word,  it 's  the  Mias  himself,  all  in  train 
ing  for  the  show  !"  was  Mr.  Dodge's  startled  exclama 
tion.  "  How  are  you,  old  boy  ?"  he  continued, 


140  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

positively  dancing  around  the  clumsy  shape  and  spar 
ring  at  it  exuberantly.  "How  are  things  going,  old 
chap  ?  "What  do  you  say  to  Barnum's  Museum,  old — 

The  salutation  went  no  farther,  for,  with  a  celerity  of 
transfiguration  little  short  of  magic,  the  seeming  little 
old  goblin  of  the  downcast  hairy  face  became  instantly 
an  erect  and  furiously  jumping  incarnation  of  chatter 
ing  rage,  and  his  stick  came  down  upon  the  pugilistical 
disturber's  unguarded  shoulders  with  prodigious  force 
and  clatter ! 

"  O-shon-see  !  O-shon-see  !  O-shon-see  !"  croaked,  or 
coughed,  or  pumped  the  infuriated  creature,  raining 
blows  with  irresistible  rapidity  upon  the  instinctively 
upraised  arms  of  the  bewildered  and  mechanically  re 
treating  man.  The  band  with  the  pipe  in  it  had  slipped 
below  the  chin,  and  the  astounding  animal,  leaping, 
chattering  and  slashing,  had  a  frightful  appearance  of 
smoking  from  his  shaggy  neck. 

"Halloa,  there!  Come,  somebody  !"  called  the  be 
labored  Dodge,  retreating  helplessly  yet  around  the  bend 
of  the  veranda  as  it  turned  the  corner  of  the  house. 

A  heavy  tramp  or  shuffle  sounded  suddenly  behind 
him.  A  sharp,  authoritative  "Oshonsee!"  made  his 
assailant  drop  the  stick,  spring  for  the  bamboo  fence, 
and  cling  there  in  complete  subjection. 

The  victim  of  the  assault  had  scarcely  collected  his 
dazed  senses  sufficiently  to  recognize  Doctor  Hedland  in 
the  coatless,  white-trousered  and  slippered  person  of  his 
timely  rescuer,  when  the  whole  of  his  own  party,  at 
tended,  of  course,  by  the  collective  aboriginal  age  and 
infancy  of  the  village,  came  crowding  around  the  corner 
in  hurried  surprise. 

"Xow,  what  is  the  meaning  of  this,  sir,  if  you 
please  ?"  demanded  the  owner  of  Oshonsee,  after  a  stiff 
bow  to  the  general  circle. 


OSHONSEE  AT  HOME.  141 

' '  It  means  that  you  're  training  your  Greatest  of 
Living  Curiosities  down  too  fine,"  said  the  disheveled 
Mr.  Dodge,  tenderly  fingering  the  shoulder  on  which  he 
had  caught  it  most  severely.  "I  only  addressed  him 
with  unassuming  civility,  and  made  a  friendly  pass  or 
two  at  him,  perhaps  because  I  was  feeling  first-rate 
myself,  when  what  does  he  do  but  let  at  me  with  a 
whoop,  and  I  'm  beaten  black-and-blue. " 

At  Hedland's  first  question  the  animal  had  slipped 
over  the  fence  and  disappeared  downward.  The  natu 
ralist  now  lost  his  first  expression  of  anger  in  a  look  of 
keen  interest. 

"Did  you  speak  to' him  in  English  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  Don't  you  know  Malayan?" 

"I  've  picked  tip  enough  for  business.  Everybody  in 
Singapore  has  a  smattering,  you  know." 

"  If  you  had  used  Malayan,  he  might  not  have  mis 
behaved.  And  yet  it  is  curious — curious  !  You  did  not 
strike  him,  I  understand  ?" 

"When  I  strike,  Doctor,  it 's  at  a  man— an  English 
man  greatly  preferred,"  said  Mr.  Dodge,  decidedly  in 
dignant  at  the  implied  indifference  to  his  own  injuries. 
"  I  merely  cut  a  few  cheerful  sparring  capers  around 
him — he  did  look  such  a  rum  old  customer  ! — and  then 
he  was  at  me  like  a  Donny brook  Fair-y." 

Doctor  Hedland's  black  mane  and  beard,  skull-cap, 
spectacles  and  florid  face  could  present  a  formidable 
concentration  of  forbidding  expression — as,  indeed,  they 
had  done  when  he  was  first  recognized  ;  but  it  was  ob 
servable  that  they  all  acquired  a  more  considerately 
tolerative  air  as  he  listened. 

"You  must  not  take  offense,  sir,"  said  he,  "if  my 
naturally  absorbing  interest  in  any  novel  phase  of 
Oshonsee's  behavior  has  made  me  almost  forget  to 
apologize  for  his  rudeness  to  you." 


142  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"'Rudeness'  is  good,"  murmured  the  person  ad 
dressed. 

"  Gentlemen,  you  will  all  be  good  enough  to  pardon 
my  abruptness  of  manner  at  being  aroused  from  a  siesta 
in  such  an  emergency,"  the  Doctor  continued,  with  a 
conciliatory  nod  to  the  wondering  merchant  and  Mr. 
Williamson.  "This  animal  is  now  the  great  study  of 
my  life,  and  almost  every  day  develops  some  fresh  sign 
of  his  amazing  instinct.  For  reasons  which  I  can  only 
conjecture,  he  becomes  frenzied  at  certain  sounds.  His 
behavior  with  our  friend  here  to-day  is  quite  a  new 
thing.  In  fact,  if  you,  gentlemen,  see  fit  to  favor  me 
and  my  friend,  Colonel  Daryl,  with  a  call  before  you 
leave,  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  explaining  to  you  more 
fully  what  peculiar  justification  I  believe  that  there  is 
for  the  great  scientific  importance  I  am  well  known  to 
assign  to  the  remarkable  creature  you  have  seen." 

Mr.  Williamson  bowed.  Mr.  Effingham  did  the  same, 
but  spoke  also : 

"Thank  you,  Dr.  Hedland.  But— excuse  me— you 
mention  Colonel  Daryl  as  having  arrived  ?" 

"He  came  this  morning,  and  is  now  in  my  house 
taking  a  nap." 

"  Then  I  will  not  disturb  him  until  later." 

The  naturalist  regarded  him  sharply  as  he  spoke,  with 
a  new  perception. 

"Allow  me  to  ask  if  you  are  not  the  American  gentle 
man  of  Sarawak  ?" 

Here  Mr.  Williamson  interposed  : 

"  Mr.  Effingham,  permit  me  to  make  you  acquainted 
with  Doctor  Hedland." 

"  Didn't  you  hear  the  gentleman  call  me  by  name  ?" 
snapped  the  Doctor,  hastily.  "We  have  met  before, 
I  see,  though  I  did  not  at  first  recognize  you,  Mr. 
Eflingham." 


OSHONSEE  AT  HOME.  143 

This  was  not  surprising,  as  the  travelers  wore  very 
high  top-boots,  flannel  blouses  gathered  at  the  waist  by 
pistol-belts,  and  sun-helmets.  The  merchant  bore  but 
slight  resemblance  to  his  domestic  self,  and  assured  the 
petulant  sage  that  his  earlier  lack  of  discernment  had 
been  quite  excusable. 

Pa  Jenna,  who  had  first  driven  the  little  native  rabble 
away  from  the  vicinity,  and  then  listened  to  the  con 
versation  as  gravely  as  though  it  had  been  comprehen 
sible  to  him,  now  obeyed  Mr.  Williamson's  signal  to 
lead  the  way  back  to  his  house  ;  Mr.  Dodge  alone  tarry 
ing  to  observe  that  the  retiring  man  of  science  called 
the  mias  up  the  piles  and  over  the  veranda-guard  again 
by  a  low  whistle,  and  took  the  animal  with  him  into  a 
detached  building  that  connected  with  the  bend  of  the 
veranda  by  a  dizzy  bridge  of  bamboo. 

In  the  chief  apartment  of  the  Orang-Kaya's  residence, 
lighted,  like  all  its  neighbors,  only  through  the  door 
way  and  an  uplifted  flap  in  the  roof,  our  trio  of  guests 
made  themselves  as  comfortable  as  possible  while  their 
host  was  warming  a  luncheon  of  salt  fish  and  coffee  on 
the  fireplace  outside.  Benches  formed  of  halves  of  logs, 
slightly  hollowed,  were  the  exclusive  furniture  of  the 
room,  and,  but  for  a  bottle  of  Javanese  arrak  and  two 
bottles  of  dry  sherry,  presently  brought  to  them  by  a 
handsome  native  lad,  with  Tuan  Hedland's  compli 
ments,  the  interval  between  active  incidents  might 
have  been  a  dull  one. 

u  ]^ow  there  you  have  the  man,  exactly,"  commented 
Mr.  Williamson.  "He  is  like  a  mangosteen,  with  all 
his  roughness  and  acridity  on  the  outside.  You  ob 
served  how  offish  and  testy  he  was  with  me  ?  That 
was  because  I  am  Mr.  Brooke's  aide  and  interpreter  "7 
having  accepted  the  position  he  himself  threw  up,  when 
he  and  the  Rajah  first  came  to  Singapore.  Yet,  for  all 


144  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

his  wholly  gratuitous  dislike  of  Mr.  Brooke  and  my 
humble  self,  he  would  not  require  much  placation  to 
invite  us  to  become  his  own  guests  here." 

"  I  suppose  this  must  be  '  Cape '  wine  he  's  sent  us," 
hinted  Mr.  Dodge,  smacking -over  a  cup  of  the  sherry. 

The  aide  smiled  feebly,  and  looked  as  though  he  did 
not  care  to  commit  himself  in  speech. 

"  — Because,  you  '11  observe  it  comes  from  a  Hedland 
— '  cape  or  headland,'  as  the  geographers  say." 

"How  long  has  the  gentleman  been  settled  here  ?" 
asked  Mr.  Effingham,  stonily  oblivious  to  the  trivial 
interruption. 

"I  suppose  about  a  year;  ever  since  the  Pangeran 
Makota  procured  this  mias  for  him,"  answered  the 
Englishman,  who  did  not  half  appreciate  their  friend's 
style  of  humor.  "The  beast  belonged  to  the  Mala}^ 
and  is  said  to  have  come  from  somewhere  in  the  wildest 
interior  of  Borneo.  And  it  is  really  a  strange  speci 
men,  differing  greatly  from  any  hitherto  known  to 
Europeans.  This  village  is  made  up  chiefly  of  the  Sib- 
nowan  tribe  of  Dyaks  Laut,  the  most  intelligent  of  the 
partly  reclaimed  Sea-Dyaks,  though  their  Orang-Kaya 
is  an  Illanaon  by  origin,  and  after  being  liberated  from 
slavery  to  Malayan  captors,  by  the  Rajah,  was  not 
finally  made  the  loyal  subject  to  us  that  he  now  is,  until 
we  fined  him  nearly  two  hundred  pounds  for  taking  the 
head  of  a  rival  chief.  All  Europeans  are  as  beings  of 
supernatural  power  to  these  simple-minded  aborigines, 
and,  for  that  matter,  to  their  old  Malay  masters  also, 
and  Hedland  is  an  autocrat  here.  He  has  reformed 
their  dress  and  manners  to  a  degree,  given  them  Sun 
day  expositions  from  the  Scriptures,  and  the  village 
now  sends  more  rice,  fruits,  mats,  baskets  and  beeswax 
to  Kuchin  than  any  other  in  the  province." 

Here  Pa  Jenna  reappeared,  with  his  fish  on  curious 


08HON8EE  AT  HOME.  145 

bronze  plates,  and  the  coffee  in  sailors'  pewter  cups.  A 
form  of  partaking  at  least  the  latter  was  observed  by 
the  gentlemen,  to  whom  thereafter  came  Colonel  Daryl, 
with  many  polite  expressions  of  pleasure  at  meeting 
them. 

In  their  journey  to  Simunjon  the  explorers  had 
climbed  into  several  Dyak  villages  and  encountered  the 
shock  of  as  many  "head-houses."  Nevertheless  they 
were  not  repelled  from  visiting  the  chamber  of  horrors 
yet  retained  by  the  villagers  of  the  Sarawak.  As  already 
introduced,  it  was  a  round,  central  structure,  with  a  roof 
shaped  like  a  Chinese  hat.  Looking  upward  from  the 
spacious  interior,  ranged  about  with  the  hollowed  half- 
log  benches  and  couches  of  the  bachelors  of  the  com 
munity,  the  visitors  could  see  hundreds  of  blackened 
and  hideously-painted  ragged  balls,  suspended  from  a 
network  of  beams  by  rattan  cords,  and  swinging  grimly 
to  the  breeze  admitted  by  a  series  of  round  openings 
near  the  eaves.  These  were  the  ghastly  trophies  of 
many  years'  head-hunting.  Some  had  been  gained  in 
war,  but  a  majority  came  singly,  the  prizes  of  individ 
ual  "hunters"  to  placate  sweethearts,  or  do  honor  to 
the  memory  of  the  dead,  or  supply  a  requisite  basketed 
appointment  of  one  of  the  tribal  spear-dances. 

"The  simple-minded  Dyak  certainly  understands 
how  to  get  ahead  in  the  world,"  remarked  Mr.  Dodge, 
his  face  upturned,  hands  in  pockets,  and  feet  very 
widely  apart. 

"Can  that  object  ever  really  have  served  a  human 
being  as  a  head  ?"  questioned  Mr.  Effingham,  pointing 
to  a  thing  shaped  like  a  great  potato,  hanging  where 
the  light  from  the  nearest  opening  in  the  wall  struck 
fully  upon  it  at  the  moment. 

Mr.  Williamson  spoke  to  Pa  Jenna  in  Malayan,  and 
learned  from  him  that  the  head  in  question  was  the  last 


146  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

that  had  been  taken.  A  young  man  of  the  village 
wished  to  propitiate  the  maid  of  his  affections  with  the 
traditional  offering,  and  as  head-hunting  was  already 
under  the  ban  of  even  Malay  law,  had  much  difficulty 
in  securing  his  trophy.  Nevertheless  he  succeeded,  in 
some  way,  at  last,  and  there  hung  the  head. 

"It  must  have  belonged  to  a  man  not  high  in  the 
scale  of  intelligence,"  and  the  merchant  stared  at  it 
doubtfully  through  his  eye-glasses. 

"It  certainly  does  not  look  at  all  human,"  assented 
the  Colonel,  staring  curiously  also.  "  I  was  in  here  this 
morning,  soon  after  my  arrival,  and  did  not  then  notice 
the  peculiarity  of  shape.  Probably  the  light  is  on  it  so 
strongly  as  this,  only  at  certain  hours." 

"I  have  seen  the  skull  of  a  Panam  woman,"  Mr. 
"Williamson  observed,  "and  it  was  almost  like  a  cocoa- 
nut.  The  Panams  are  one  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  of 
the  interior,  and  the  Malays  insist  that  they  live  in 
trees,  and  are  hunted  like  animals  by  the  Anga-Anga 
Mountain  people." 

' '  If  you  ever  happen  to  meet  a  lady  of  that  tribe  in 
this  life,  Mr.  Williamson,"  cried  Mr.  Dodge,  with  pro 
fessional  quickness,  "you  might  casually  mention  to 
her  that  my  friend,  Mr.  Barnum,  would  cheerfully  en 
gage  her  at  two  hundred  rupees  a  week  and  expenses." 

The  craniological  discussion  closed  at  that  point,  and 
all  went  back  to  the  veranda.  Colonel  Daryl  took  tem 
porary  leave  to  rejoin  Doctor  Hedland  ;  not,  however, 
without  admonishing  the  later  guests  to  remember  their 
own  virtual  appointment  with  that  scientist ;  and  then 
the  two  Americans  and  their  genial  English  associate 
moved  forward  to  the  bamboo  pickets  for  a  survey  of 
the  return  of  the  villagers  from  their  labors  of  the  day. 

Between  the  topmost  fronds  of  palms  growing  close 
to  the  piles  of  their  aerial  perch,  and  over  the  sinking 


OSHONSEE  AT  HOME.  147 

heads  of  others  clustering  thickly  down  the  slope,  the 
men  had  a  dizzy  bird's-eye  view  of  their  dwarfed  prahu 
far  below,  with  dots  of  little  canoes  putting  into  the 
shore  all  around  it.  There  was  a  rising  hum  in  the 
rosy  sunset  air,  coming  more  syllabled  to  their  ears 
every  moment.  From  the  canoes  flitted  figures  which 
were  quickly  lost  in  the  waterside  jungle,  and  while  the 
observers  were  watching  for  their  reappearance  farther 
up,  a  chorus  of  shrill  laughter  from  the  roots  of  the 
great  iron-wood  piles  suddenly  proclaimed  the  prox 
imity  of  a  throng  of  women,  who  had  come  around  the 
side  of  the  hill  from  the  rice-fields  beyond,  and  were 
tripping  up  the  last  train  of  ladders  like  a  flight  of  do 
mesticated  doves.  Presently  up  they  all  came,  stream 
ing  upon  the  veranda  at  twenty  different  points  ;  the 
women  in  pointed  hats  of  plaited  rattan,  sleeveless  jack 
ets  and  bedangs,  or  petticoats,  of  gayly-striped  native 
cloth,  and  curious  bodices,  made  of  strips  of  bamboo, 
bound  together  with  fine  brass  wire  ;  the  men  in  caps 
made,  turban-like,  of  elastic  bark,  Malay  blouses, 
sarongs  (or  tartans,  worn  as  sashes)  and  short  trousers 
— and  all  with  larger  or  smaller  ear-rings,  the  parang- 
latok,  or  harvest-sword,  at  the  waist,  and  a  basket  or 
bundle  of  some  sort  on  head  or  shoulder. 

Pa  Jenna's  authoritative  interposition  was  necessary 
to  avert  an  immediate  congestion  of  the  picturesque 
human  upwelling  around  the  three  strangers,  whonl  the 
returning  multitude  discovered  with  much  round-eyed 
and  ejaculatory  surprise.  The  Orang-Kaya  briefly  ex 
plained  that  these  sirariis  were  known  to  Tuan  Hed- 
land  and  under  the  protection  of  himself  and  his 
"antu;"  whereupon  the  variegated  stream  flowed  on 
again,  with  a  resumed  chorus  of  not  unmelodious  chat 
ter  and  laughter,  and  soon  all  the  different  houses  of 
the  long  row  had  their  great  roof-flaps  lifted  and  many 


148  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

doors  open,  and  fires  began  kindling  for  the  day's  last 
meal. 

Later  on,  in  the  final  splendid  flush  of  the  sky,  before 
the  tender  pallor  of  twilight,  the  whole  veranda  was  a 
bustling  street,  full  of  characteristic  figures  and  groups. 
Before  many  doors  were  pairs  and  trios  of  black-eyed 
tawny  belles  (with  falls  of  beaded  cloth  on  their  luxuri 
ant  midnight  locks  now),  threshing  paddy  or  husk-rice 
with  long  clubs  in  wooden  troughs,  or,  mayhap,  win 
nowing  it  with  primitive  shovel  and  fan.  Elsewhere 
sat  plaiters  of  mats  and  baskets,  while  everywhere 
lounged  the  fishers,  hunters  and  sailors  of  the  day 
chewing  the  eternal  betel  and  furtively  watching  the 
strangers. 

A  bringing  forth  of  divers  bamboo  vessels  of  Tuak,  or 
tribal  home-brewed  beer,  by  bevies  of  damsels  whose 
smiles  revealed  teeth  dyed  with  the  expressed  sap  of 
"  sinka"  wood,  involved  a  proffer  of  hospitality  of  which 
only  Mr.  Dodge  was  bold  enough  to  partake,  and  be 
tokened  a  kinship  with  lower  mortals  for  this  village  in 
the  air. 


CHAPTER  X. 

DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE. 

CONNECTING  by  a  movable,  V-shaped  foot-bridge,  or 
batang,  of  bamboo,  with  the  great  veranda  compassing 
the  main  village,  the  detached  house  of  the  naturalist 
was  in  other  respects  similar  to  the  ordinary  Dyak  habi 
tation,  save  that,  in  addition  to  the  common  hinged  flap 
in  the  roof,  it  boasted  several  square  openings  in  the 
sides  for  windows.  Then,  again,  at  a  depth  of  eight  or 
nine  feet  below  the  flooring,  on  the  supporting  piles  of 


DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.     149 

metrosideros  vera,  or  iron-wood,  a  platform  had  been 
constructed,  in  an  inclosure  of  rattan  matting,  for  the 
storage  of  the  casks  of  medicated  arrack  used  by  the 
Doctor  in  preserving  the  skins  of  animals,  his  arsenical 
preparations  for  birds,  butterflies  and  other  small  speci 
mens,  and  his  reserve  of  ammunition.  Yet  lower,  a 
second  platform,  walled  from  all  outer  inspection  with 
Nypa  "ataps,"  was  the  bedchamber  of  the  wonderful 
mias  ;  and  from  thence  to  the  ground  only  mossy  and 
creeper-wreathed  piles  obstructed  a  view  of  the  great 
iron  vat  in  which  the  flesh  was  boiled  from  the  skeletons 
of  beasts  worth  anatomical  retention.  Ladders  at  prac 
ticable  angles  led  down  through  the  whole  interior,  from 
a  trap  in  the  floor  of  the  house  ;  none  appearing  on  the 
exterior. 

In  the  house  itself,  formerly  belonging  to  the  pan- 
glima,  or  chief-warrior,  of  the  tribe,  there  were  three 
compartments ;  a  dormitory  on  either  side  of  a  much 
larger  central  room.  The  latter  was  where  the  American 
merchant  and  Mr.  Williamson  found  Doctor  Hedland 
and  Colonel  Daryl  awaiting  them  that  evening,  with 
Oshonsee,  (no  longer  disguised  in  human  attire,)  on  a 
bench  upon  the  low  table  beside  which  they  were  sitting. 

Several  clumsy  oil-lamps,  of  the  same  native  pottery 
with  the  rude  naga,  or  dragon,  jars  of  the  Dyaks,  were 
so  disposed  on  the  table  as  to  concentrate  what  rays 
they  could  produce  upon  the  docile,  sleepily-blinking 
wild-man-of-the-woods,  and  the  light  elsewhere  diffused 
gave  but  dim  definition  to  such  surrounding  furniture  as 
a  swinging  shelf  of  books  ;  a  tall  bamboo  framework,  like 
a  printer's  case,  on  which  rested  a  volume  of  commercial- 
ledger  aspect  and  an  inkstand ;  several  cane  chairs  of 
as  many  different  shapes  ;  guns  and  butterfly -nets  hang 
ing  by  rattan-loops  from  the  undistinguishable  beams, 
and  so  on. 


150  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

When  the  two  guests  first  caught  sight  of  this  rather 
sinister  interior,  upon  the  opening  of  the  door  for  them 
by  a  voiceless  Dyak  attendant,  they  were  not  greatly 
surprised  to  see  Dr.  Hedland  press  a  significant  finger 
to  his  lips  as  he  hastily  advanced  to  receive  them.  An 
admonition  of  silence  was  in  keeping  with  the  general 
suppressing  tone  of  the  whole  scene. 

"Excuse  me,  gentlemen,"  began  the  naturalist  in 
French  ;  "  but  I  did  not  wish  you  to  speak  in  English. 
Colonel  Daryl  and  I  talk  in  the  best  French  we  can 
muster,  to  avoid  the  extraordinary  excitement  any  sound 
of  English  occasions  in  this  animal — as  you  saw,  for 
yourselves,  to-day.  Since  you  must  depart  from  here 
to-morrow,  I  sent  Kalong  to  invite  your  presence  im 
mediately.  Do  I  make  myself  intelligible  ?" 

The  new-comers  nodded  assent ;  and  Mr.  Effingham 
added,  in  very  good  French,  that  Mr.  Dodge's  experi 
ence  of  "tuak,"  very  temperate  though  it  was,  had 
obliged  the  gentleman  to  forego  the  pleasure  of  his  pro 
posed  call,  in  favor  of  an  early  couch. 

"Well,  that  I  regret,"  remarked  the  Doctor  ;  "for  I 
hoped  to  induce  him  to  repeat  his  performance  of  tip-day 
with  Oshonsee.  It  involved  a  new  and  (to  me)  suggest 
ive  illustration  qf  the  creature's  intimations  of  reason. 
Mr.  Dodge  should  know  enough  of  Borneo,  by  this  time, 
to  run  from  that  villainous  tuak,  though  those  young 
Dyak  witches  might  persuade  Saint  Anthony  himself. 
But  I  suppose  we  must  do  without  him.  Now  draw  up 
to  the  table,  if  you  please,  gentlemen,  and  I'll  get 
through  with  the  mias  as  soon  as  possible." 

In  obedience  to  an  order,  in  his  own  tongue,  the  at 
tendant  Dyak,  Kalong,  brought  forward  chairs,  and  then 
two  bottles  of  the  Doctor's  port  and  some  cheroots. 
When  the  party  were  seated,  it  was  observed  that  the 
table  held  also  a  small  metal  tub  of  water,  with  a  small 


DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.     151 

shelf  around  the  rim  on  which  were  ranged  a  number  of 
cocoanut  shells,  seemingly  linked  together  by  a  cord. 

And  now  that  the  most  famous  of  orang-outans,  or 
miases,  was  seen  close  at  hand,  and  in  his  natural  as 
pect,  the  visitors  remarked,  with  exchange  of  surprised 
glances,  that  he  differed,  in  many  startling  particulars, 
from  the  wild  members  of  his  species  observed  by  them 
on  the  Simunjon.  Doctor  Hedland  noticed  their  looks, 
and  could  not  repress  a  complacent  chuckle,  as — after  a 
cup  of  the  wine  in  amicable  pledge — he  arose  and  placed 
a  caressing  hand  on  Oshonsee's  nearer  shoulder. 

"Now,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  with  spectacles  pushed 
up  on  forehead,  "I  wish  to  avail  myself  of  the  only 
opportunity  I  am  ever  likely  to  have  in  Borneo,  for  ex 
plaining  to  educated  men,  of  my  own  race,  why  I  place 
so  high  a  value  and  bestow  so  much  exclusive  study 
upon  a  specimen  of  natural  history  that  vulgar  rumor 
has  represented  to  be  no  more  than  a  common  mias 
pappan.  I  propose  to  show  to  you,  so  far  as  I  can  and 
with  as  few  technical  terms  as  possible,  that,  while  the 
animal  is  an  anthropomorphous  ape,  he  is  so  far  beyond 
the  most  intelligent  type  of  tailless  simise  yet  known  to 
European  science,  and  so  far  short  of  any  actual  human 
assimilation,  that  he  must  be  a  hybrid  of  species  not 
yet  included  in  the  hundred-and-thirty  different  mon 
key  kinds  at  present  known  to  man." 

This  exordium  had  in  it  a  certain  tone  of  covert  dog 
matical  defiance,  that  made  even  the  Colonel  uncom 
fortable  lest  his  friend  should  drift  into  some  ludicrous 
extravagance  at  the  next  stage. 

"  But  before  going  further  in  this  vein,"  proceeded 
the  speaker,  clasping  his  hands  behind  him,  "  let  me 
premise  that  I  do  not  really  believe  this  creature  belongs 
to  Borneo.  Makota  pretends  to  have  procured  him  for 
me  from  a  district  belonging  to  himself  beyond  the  Madi 


152  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Mountains,  whither  no  European  has  yet  penetrated. 
He  has  assured  me  that  the  animal  was  carried  to  the 
sea,  and  then  brought  down  the  coast,  at  his  command, 
by  the  Bajows,  or  sea-gypsies.  I  suspect,  however, 
that  he  clings  to  this  representation,  because,  when  ex 
pressing  to  him  my  wish  to  secure  a  large  mias,  on  my 
first  acquaintance  with  him  in  Bruni,  I  particularized 
the  Borneon  species.  I  am  sure  in  my  own  mind  that 
Oshonsee  came  from  Sumatra,  where  his  species  is 
said  to  attain  higher  stature,  and  to  walk  erect  on  the 
ground  more  frequently,  than  on  this  island.  Probably 
Makota  persists  in  his  assertion  because  he  cannot  un 
derstand  the  scientific  aspect  of  the  matter,  and  sus 
pects  that  I  question  him  from  a  secret  fear  of  my  own 
that  the  animal  is  not  veritably  Borneon.  I  hope  to  get 
the  full  truth  from  him  eventually,  as  it  is  very  essential 
to  my  purpose.  Hence  I  keep  on  good  terms  with  the 
fellow  ;  have  made  him  many  presents  ;  and,  above  all, 
did  not  interpose,  as  I  might  have  done,  only  a  short 
time  ago,  when  our  friend,  Pa  Jenna,  allowed  his 
daughter,  Amina,  to  go  up  to  the  Sadong  with  the  Pan- 
geran  as  his  wife — her  older  sister,  Inda,  being  already 
a  wife  to  the  Pangeran  Budrudeen.  It  is  to  my  interest, 
as  a  man  of  science,  to  retain  the  good  will  of  Makota, 
whatever  the  new  politicians  of  Kuchin  may  think  of  it." 

"  They  do  not  think  of  it  at  all,  Hedland  ;  as  I  have 
so  often  assured  you.  Or,  at  any  rate,  not  in  an  un- 
amiable  way,"  retorted  the  Colonel,  stanchly.  Mr.  Wil 
liamson  smiled. 

"  Well,  it  shall  be  precisely  as  they  please,"  was  the 
curt  rejoinder. 

The  naturalist  took  the  strangely  passive  Oshonsee  by  a 
wrist,  and  made  him  rise  from  the  bench  and  stand  erect. 

"  Set  the  clock,"  ordered  the  master,  in  Malayan. 

With  a  shuffling  step,  as  though  fearful  of  slipping, 


DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.     153 

the  mias  advanced  to  the  metallic  tub  on  the  table, 
tilted  one  of  the  cocoanut  shells  from  the  rim  into  the 
water,  with  a  finger,  and  returned. 

"  That  is  a  prahu  clock,  such  as  is  used  for  keeping 
watches  at  sea.  There  are  a  dozen  of  those  shells,  each 
with  a  fine  hole  in  the  bottom  to  secure  the  filling  of 
the  shell  with  water,  by  its  own  weight,  in  exactly  an 
hour.  You  have  seen  how  it  is  set,  and  that  the  shells 
are  tied  to  each  other  by  certain  lengths  of  cord.  In 
one  hour  the  shell  that  Oshonsee  has  floated  will  sink. 
In  so  doing  it  will  strike  the  bottom  of  the  tub  with  a 
noise,  and  also  pull  the  next  shell  from  the  rim  into  the 
water,  by  its  cord,  for  the  next  hour.  And  so  the 
clock  will  run,  as  accurately  as  any  chronometer,  for 
twelve  hours.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  mark  the 
shells  with  a  scale  of  the  sixty  minutes,  and  so  have 
them  registered  by  water,  also."  * 

As  a  curiosity,  in  itself,  the  Malayan  time-keeper 
deserved  some  attention  ;  yet  the  Doctor  had  not  in 
tended  it  to  receive  the  chief  notice  in  the  episode  of  its 
employment. 

"I  see,  "said  Mr.  "Williamson,  "that  your  satyrus, 
besides  being  extraordinarily  long  in  his  legs,  does  not 
walk  on  the  sides  of  his  soles,  in  the  usual  manner  of 
his  kind.  He  and  the  Kajah's  '  Betsy  '  move  like  ani 
mals  of  wholly  different  species." 

"Ah,  you  observed  that !"  resumed  the  naturalist,  in 
a  gratified  tone.  "He  certainly  does  tread  on  his 
knuckles  yet  when  moving  on  all-fours  ;  but  you  must 
perceive  that  his  knees  turn  out  less  than  those  of  the 
common  iiithecus  satyrus.  And  in  his  upright  move 
ment,  without  support,  you  must  have  noticed,  also,  a 
firmness  of  tension  in  the  action  of  the  hip-joint,  as 
though  the  femur  had  the  ligamentum  teres  by  which  the 
human  leg  is  braced  for  walking.  Remark,  too,  that 


154  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

his  thumbs  turn  less  into  the  palms  than  with  the  wild 
mias.  Now  all  these  approximations  to  human  traits 
have  been  developed  since  the  animal  came  under  my 
training." 

"  But  his  extraordinary  length  of  leg  can  hardly  be 
an  educational  result,  sir?"  intimated  Mr.  Emngham. 

Doctor  Hedland  took  the  remark  very  graciously,  and 
answered,  with  animation — 

u  To  a  certain  degree — yes  !  By  accustoming  him  to 
an  erect  attitude  I  have  appreciably  modified  the  original 
oblique  articulation  of  his  lower  extremities.  It  re 
mains  true  yet,  however,  sir,  that  the  legs  are  longer 
than  those  of  any  ape  familiar  to  science.  But  I  have 
some  comparative  measurements  to  give  you  of  an  even 
more  curious  suggestiveness. " 

By  this  time  the  man  of  science  was  warmly  into  his 
favorite  subject,  and,  with  hand  again  upon  a  hairy 
shoulder  of  the  well-trained  mias,  looked,  in  the  flicker 
ing  light,  like  a  fantastic  necromancer  placing  a  spell 
upon  his  familiar  demon.  In  white  linen  blouse  and 
nether  garments  ;  his  black  beard,  lank  hair,  inky  eye 
brows  and  skull-cap  made  more  intensely  sombre  by 
contrast,  and  giving  a  startling  distinctiveness  to  the 
long,  florid  face,  lustrous  with  moisture,  and  glasses 
flashing  high  on  his  lofty  forehead  ;  he  was  an  ominous 
figure  in  group  with  the  great  ape.  While  the  three  spec 
tators  ;  their  own  countenances  barely  within  the  waver 
ing  circle  of  the  lamp-rays,  and  gloom  all  round  and 
above  them  ;  might  have  fancied  themselves  present  at 
a  forbidden  incantation  in  some  secret  cavern  of  the 
Equatorial  wilderness. 

"It  is  my  conclusion,"  went  on  the  Doctor,  "from 
all  that  I  have  studied  of  Buffon,  Cuvier,  Owen,  the 
new  man,  Darwin,  and  others ;  from  all  my  inquiries 
of  Malays  and  Dyaks,  and  from  all  that  I  have  been 


DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.     155 

able  to  observe  for  myself,  that  at  least  four  species  of 
miases  can  be  found  on  this  island  and  in  Sumatra. 
Makota  knows  only  the  larger  or  Mias  Pappan,  and 
the  smaller,  or  Mias  Kombi.  Pa  Jenna  and  some  of 
the  Dyaks  Darrat,  or  native  peasants,  have  assured  me 
of  the  existence  of  a  third  species,  or  Mias  Kassar, 
around  the  head  waters  of  the  river  Coti,  just  east  of  the 
Anga-Anga  mountains.  The  probable  fourth  species, 
of  the  simia  Abellii,  is  undoubtedly  the  Sumatran. 

"Now  the  question  is.  to  which  species  does  this  mias 
here  belong  ?  By  his  stature  he  should  be  a  Pappan, 
yet  his  height,  of  five  feet,  is  more,  by  over  six  inches, 
than  that  of  the  largest  orang-outan  ever  before  cap 
tured.  The  Pappans — called  by  Owen  simia  Wurmbii 
— have  callosities  on  either  side  of  the  face  ;  which  this 
mias  has  not ;  neither  has  the  Kombi,  nor  Kassar.  The 
Pappan's  hair  is  blackish-brown  on  the  body  and  black 
on  the  face  ;  Oshonsee's  hair,  as  you  see,  is  brownish- 
red  throughout — like  that  of  the  supposed  Sumatran 
mias.  The  Kassar  (simia  Morio),  once  erroneously 
taken  for  the  female  of  the  Pappan,  has  small  teeth, 
and  no  ridges  rising  from  the  front  of  the  head,  as  has 
the  Pappan. 

"Oshonsee's  teeth  are  like  man's,  and  he  shows  no 
frontal  ridges.  Xotice  his  nose ;  there  is  the  septum, 
or  partition  of  the  nostrils,  very  much  alike  in  man  and 
ape  ;  but  the  outer  curve  of  his  nostrils,  you  see,  is  not 
confluent  with  the  cheek,  as  in  all  known  Borneon 
miases.  The  query  arises  :  do  the  stature  of  the  tallest 
conceivable  Pappan,  the  coat  and  face  of  the  Kombi, 
and  the  teeth  and  forehead  of  the  Kassar  come  together 
in  the  reported  simia  Abellii  of  Sumatra  ;  and  has  the 
Sumatran  mias  also  the  nose  and  long  legs  of  Oshonsee  ? 
I  lean  to  that  supposition,  because  this  animal  in  our 
presence  cannot  be  either  a  Pappan,  or  a  Kombi,  or  a 
Kassar." 


156  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

The  scientist  paused  for  a  long  breath,  and  Colonel 
Daryl  spoke  : 

u  Haven't  you  spoken  of  him  as  a  hybrid,  Doctor  ?" 

"  I  have.  But  I  believe  him  to  be  a  hybrid  of  species 
not  yet  found  in  Borneo.  His  excess  of  height,  alone, 
not  to  mention  a  lack  of  proportionate  width  of  ex 
tended  arms,  shows  that  he  can  be  no  Pappan." 

"Is  the  gain  of  stature  by  the  legs,  only  ?"  inquired 
Mr.  Williamson. 

"  I  may  say  yes  to  that.  From  hip  to  heel  he  meas 
ures  two  feet  ten  inches ;  or  one  foot  less  than  a  tall 
man,  and  six  inches  more  than  the  largest  known 
Pappan." 

"I  really  cannot  understand,  Dr.  Hedland,  what  you 
are  making  him  out  to  be,"  observed  the  American 
merchant. 

"I  am  by  no  means  sure,"  was  the  frank  answer, 
"  that  I  know  that,  exactly,  myself.  But  allow  me, 
gentlemen,  to  give  you  the  general  measurements  of 
this  animal,  which,  excepting  his  stature,  legs  and  cir 
cumference  of  head,  are  about  the  same  as  those  of 
the  full-grown  great  mias  Pappan.  With  them  I  '11  give 
the  corresponding  average  human  proportions,  for  sug 
gestion's  sake.  In  breadth  across  outstretched  arms, 
from  finger-tip  to  finger-tip,  the  mias  is  seven  feet,  nine 
inches ;  man  is  two  feet  less,  or  twelve  inches  less  by 
each  arm.  In  lengths  of  feet  and  hands  mias  and  man 
are  about  alike — twelve  inches  for  foot,  and  an  inch  or 
two  less  for  hand.  Across  the  shoulders,  again,  they  do 
not  differ  much,  the  mias  measurement  being  one  foot, 
six  inches.  Under  the  arms  the  mias  circumference  is 
three  feet,  to  the  three  to  four  feet  of  man  ;  and  around 
the  ribs  he  is  three  and  three-quarters,  or  near  the 
human  average. 

"  When  we  come  to  the  neck,  even  as  with  his  legs, 


DR.  EEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.     157 

Oslionsee  differs  more  from  his  own  known  species  than 
he  does  from  mankind.  A  large  mias  Pappan  measures 
two  feet,  four  inches,  around  the  neck  ;  man  perhaps  a 
foot  less  ;  and  Oshonsee,  one  foot,  nine.  From  forehead 
to  chin,  the  Pappan,  nine  and  three-quarter  inches ; 
man  eight  and  a  half  inches  ;  Oshonsee,  a  fraction  below 
nine  inches.  Across  face  below  eyes,  the  Pappan  (in 
cluding  callosities),  thirteen  inches ;  man,  ten  inches, 
and  Oshonsee  the  same.  Ear  to  ear,  over  top  of  head, 
the  Pappan,  nine  and  a-half  inches  ;  man,  fourteen  and 
a  quarter  inches ;  Oshonsee,  twelve  and  a  quarter 
inches.  From  ear  to  ear  behind  the  head,  the  Pappan 
nine  and  three-quarter  inches ;  man,  ten  and  a  half 
inches  ;  Oshonsee,  not  quite  ten  inches.  The  brain 
capacity  of  the  Pappan  is  from  twenty-six  to  twenty- 
seven  cubic  inches,  and  that  of  Oshonsee  thirty — as 
near  as  I  can  judge.  You  '11  remember  the  leg  meas 
urements,  which  I  gave  before ;  the  Pappan,  of  the 
largest  known  size,  two  feet,  four  inches  ;  a  tall  man, 
three  feet,  ten  inches ;  Oshonsee,  two  feet,  ten  inches. 
In  comparing  length  of  legs,  however,  I  have  given  you 
the  measure  of  a  Pappan  certainly  from  four  to  five 
inches  taller  than  the  one  made  the  standard  of  my 
general  comparison.  Hence,  Oshonsee's  disproportion 
is  so  marked  in  this  respect,  that  if,  being  a  mias 
Pappan,  the  breadth  across  his  extended  arms  were 
proportionate  to  his  stature,  that  breadth  should  be 
not  much  less  than  ten  feet,  or  four  feet  more  than 
man's  ;  whereas  it  is,  as  I  have  said,  seven  feet,  nine 
inches. 

"In  short,  the  mias  before  us  is  not  a  Pappan,  nor  a 
Rombi,  nor  a  Kassar.  He  belongs  to  neither  the  simia 
Wurnibii,  nor  the  simia  Morio.  Are  the  simice  Abellii, 
or  Dr.  Clarke  Abel's  miases,  a  new  species,  and  of  Su 
matra  ?  If  so,  is  Oshonsee  a  Sumatran  ape  ?  He  is 


158  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

not  a  Borneon,  unless  this  island  contains  a  species  of 
his  race  wholly  unknown  to  science." 

Not  caring,  apparently,  to  hear  any  amateur  com 
ments  on  this  nice  point  of  the  subject,  Doctor  Hedland 
hastened  to  draw  from  one  of  his  pockets  a  small  bam 
boo  tube,  and  handed  it  to  the  quadrumanous  phenom 
enon. 

.   "  Oshonsee,  the  gentlemen  want  fire  for  their  segars, " 
he  said,  in  Malayan. 

Taking  the  article  in  both  hands,  the  mias  drew  from 
the  tube  a  cube  of  lead,  with  a  hollow  in  the  top  filled 
with  tinder.  Then  he  struck  the  tube  down,  sharply, 
over  the  lead  again ;  as  sharply  withdrew  it ;  and 
handed  the  cube  to  his  master  with  the  tinder  a-light. 

u  They  say,"  remarked  the  sage,  with  a  grim  smile, 
handing  the  fire  around  to  the  party,  "  that  the  lowest 
order  of  human  intelligence  is  superior  to  the  highest 
development  of  simian  brain,  if  only  in  the  simple 
matter  of  making  fire.  Give  the  mias  permanent  need 
of  fire,  and  he  '11  learn  how  to  kindle  it  fast  enough. 
Oshonsee  can  handle  this  curious  little  native  kindler 
quite  as  adroitly  as  I  can  myself ;  and  I  question  if  he 
doesn't  understand  its  philosophy  as  well.  Some  of  the 
Malay  and  Dyak  fire-makers  are  really  puzzling  ;  not 
to  speak  of  the  production  of  combustion  by  the  rub 
bing  of  sticks  together,  or  by  boring  into  a  hard  wooden 
block  with  a  pointed  club.  The  metal  tube  and  piston, 
bringing  a  spark  by  compression  of  air,  always  bothered 
me ;  and  so  does  the  Dyak  method  of  laying  tinder 
upon  a  bit  of  broken  crockery,  and  striking  fire  into 
it  with  bamboo. ' ' 

Following  this  frank  confession  of  his  crudity  in  nat 
ural  philosophy  with  a  call  to  his  Dyak,  Kalong,  the 
Doctor  briefly  ordered  that  native  mute  to  convey 
Oshonsee  to  bed ;  and  while  yet  the  three  auditors  of 


DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.      159 

the  lecture  were  in  a  subdued  stir  at  the  abruptness  of 
the  movement,  the  Dyak  led  the  unresisting  mias  down 
from  the  table,  and  disappeared  with  him  through  a  trap 
in  the  floor  not  many  paces  from  where  they  were  sit 
ting. 

"I  wanted  to  get  back  again  to  our  proper  English, 
gentlemen,"  the  Doctor  explained,  though  in  a  lowered 
voice  ;  and  resumed  his  own  chair,  vigorously  mopping 
his  face.  There  was  an  interval  of  wine-sipping,  and 
then  he  went  on  : 

"You  all  understand  now,  I  presume,  what  are  my 
reasons  for  making  such 'a  'hobby,'  as  Mr.  Brooke  is 
pleased  to  call  it,  of  an  animal  that  even  Mr.  Effing- 
ham's  promising  youngster  has  found  amusing." 

"  And  the  lad's  father  begs  leave  to  apologize  to  you, 
sir,  unreservedly,  for  that  impertinence,"  exclaimed 
Mr.  Effingham,  earnestly. 

"And  I,  sir,  have  to  apologize,  for  my  own  hastiness 
of  manner  in  allowing  a  child's  remark  to  make  me 
discourteous  to  ladies,  no  less  than  to  yourself." 

A  general  light  laugh  followed  this  conciliatory  refer 
ence  to  an  episode  of  which  all  who  were  present  had 
heard,  and  then  the  naturalist  remounted  his  hobby  in 
phenomenal  good  humor. 

"On  that  extemporized  standing-desk,  to  our  right, 
is  a  book  in  which  I  put  down  each  day's  observations 
of  what  I  may  call  Oshonsee's  systematic  intellectual 
development.  In  a  few  months  hence  I  shall  take  the 
creature  with  me  to  Europe,  and  then  make  public  my 
theory  respecting  him.  In  strict  confidence,  between 
ourselves,  I  am  firmly  convinced  that,  in  this  same  ani 
mal,  I  have  nothing  less  than  an  unmistakable  clue  to 
discoveries  likely  to  overturn  some  of  the  longest-ac 
cepted  fundamental  principles  of  biology,  anthropology, 
geology — and  even  Theology  I — I  'm  afraid  so  I — Unless 


160  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

I  am  egregiously  in  error,  this  mias  goes  a  long  way  to 
disprove  Lyell's  conclusion  as  to  the  extinction  of  spe 
cies,  and  does  completely  confute  Buflfon's  axiom,  that 
*  that  which  is  the  most  constant  and  unalterable  in  na 
ture  is  the  type  or  form  of  each  species. '  If  the  mias 
is  what  I  grow  more  and  more  confident  that  he  is,  we 
are  on  the  verge  of  proof  that  there  has  been  no  extinc 
tion  of  species  since  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and 
may  regard  it  as  already  demonstrated,  that  the  types 
and  forms  of  species  do  alter,  and  run  consecutively 
into  each  other — " 

Darwin's  theory  of- the  origin  of  species,  and  the  ac 
cessions  of  Lyell  and  others  to  it,  being  yet  many  years 
off,  the  auditors  of  this  bold  hazard  of  judgment  were 
rather  shocked,  as  by  an  extravagance  of  obvious  mo 
nomania,  than  pleased  as  under  a  revelation  of  scientific 
discovery. 

"—For  I  mean  to  assert,"  proceeded  the  sage,  draw 
ing  back  from  the  table,  and  leaning  forward  to  empha 
size  what  he  said  by  pounding  with  his  right  fist  on  his 
left  palm — "I  mean  to  assert  that  the  species  to  which 
Oshonsee  belongs — whether  in  some  not  hitherto  ex 
plored  recess  of  Borneo,  or,  as  is  more  likely,  in  Sumatra 
— is,  by  at  least  two  important  stages,  a  nearer  approach 
to  human  form  and  type  than  science  has  hitherto 
deemed  possible  of  existence  in  the  world.  In  form  and 
attributes  it  is  about  equidistant  from  man  and  from  the 
most  man-like  example  of  the  Asiatic  quadrumana  ever 
before  observed. 

"I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  this  mias,  or  mias-hybrid 
perhaps,  practically  bridges  the  interval  between  men 
and  simise.  Between  his  anatomy  and  that  of  our  own 
species  there  is  scarcely  as  much  difference  as  between 
the  skeletons  of  Asiatic  and  African  elephants  ;  and  his 
structure  varies  from  that  of  the  Pappan  of  Borneo,  or 


DR.  EEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.    161 

any  conceivable  Borneon  hybrid,  chiefly  in  differences 
which  we  may  imagine  possible  to  have  been  effected 
by  changing  conditions  of  life  through  two  or  three  gen 
erations. 

"Take  the  human  beings  of  some  savage  tribe,  of 
lowest  intellectual  order  ;  compel  them  to  live  in  trees, 
for  safety  or  subsistence  ;  oblige  their  every  ordinary 
movement  to  be  made  in  a  bending  posture,  to  clear  the 
boughs  perpetually  over  their  heads ;  make  it  their  con 
stant  necessity  to  clasp  with  their  feet  the  boughs  upon 
which  they  stand ;  make  their  readiest  and  only  safe 
means  of  travel  the  clasping  of  high  twigs  with  both 
hands  and  the  swinging  of  the  body's  whole  weight  from 
tree  to  tree — cut  these  wretches  off,  absolutely,  from 
sight  or  influence  of  any  higher  order  of  men — and  how 
many  generations  of  them,  think  you,  would  be  required 
to  produce  a  race  with  lower  limbs  dwarfed  and  per 
verted  to  obliquity,  knees  turned  outward  and  foot-soles 
and  great-toes  turned  inward ;  with  arms  elongated 
disproportionately  by  continual  perpendicular  tension 
in  traveling ;  and  necks  crowded  down  by  incessant 
stooping,  dodging  and  crouching  ?  Add  to  this  the  in 
tellectual  degeneracy  no  less  sure  a  result  of  the  blank 
monotony  of  such  a  life ;  and  the  consequent  decay  of 
the  physical  mediums  of  intellectual  expression ;  and 
the  creatures  would  only  need  hair-coatings — which 
many  a  civilized  man  is  already  curiously  afflicted  with, 
below  the  shaving-line,  as  any  physician  can  tell  you — 
to  be  orang-outans ! 

u  On  the  other  hand,  train  a  few  generations  of  se 
lected  anthropomorphous  apes  to  live  upon  the  ground, 
use  their  hands  and  feet  like  men,  find  variety  of  mental 
excitement  in  everything  challenging  their  notice,  wear 
clothing,  develop  imitative  and  imaginative  powers  from 
contact  with  educated  mankind,  and  acquire  the  social 


162  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

instinct  of  pride— and  how  far  removed,  do  you  suppose, 
their  final  type  would  be  from  man  ?" 

"Now,  really,  Hedland,"  struck  in  the  Colonel,  "you 
are  proving  the  converse  of  what  I  take  to  be  your  pro 
position,  as  well  as  the  proposition  itself.  By  your 
reasoning,  Oshonsee  may  as  well  be  a  degenerate  Man 
as  a  regenerate  Ape." 

"So  he  might,"  returned  the  naturalist,  his  black 
eyes  shining  with  excitement,"  if  it  were  Thinkable  that 
human  beings  could  ever  be  reduced  and  limited  to  the 
condition  requisite  for  their  degradation  to  apedom. 
No  known  race  has  voluntarily  assumed  such  conditions, 
and  it  is  Unthinkable  that  the  compulsion  thereto  could 
ever  be  practiced  by  superior  human-kind.  Therefore, 
the  ape-Man  has,  probably,  never  existed.  The  process 
of  realizing  the  man- Ape,  however,  is  Thinkable.  We 
may  readily  imagine  circumstances  of  country,  climate, 
the  adjacency  of  benevolent  mankind,  and  steady  physi 
cal  regeneracy,  at  least,  therefrom,  to  account  for  the 
evolution  of  the  species  of  an  Oshonsee  from  that  of  the 
Borneon  Pappan,  or  the  African  chimpanzee,  or  that 
other  and  greatest  ape  of  all,  said  to  have  been  discov 
ered,  just  now,  by  missionaries,  in  Guinea." 

"  You  think,  then,  Doctor  Hedland,  that,  in  this  spe 
cies,  you  have  found  the  link  between  man  and  mon 
key, "  remarked  Mr.  Williamson,  doubting  his  own  ears. 

"  I  am  sure,"  reiterated  the  Doctor,  emphasizing  with 
his  fist  again,  "  that  the  mias  procured  for  me  by  Makota 
is  either  a  hybrid  mixture  of  Borneon,  Pappan,  Rombi 
and  Kassar  ;  or,  possibly,  a  true  Sumatran  ape  of  a  new 
species ;  or,  more  probably,  perhaps,  a  Sumatran  hybrid. 
I  am  also  sure  that,  whatever  island  or  class  he  belongs 
to,  he  is,  structurally  and  intellectually,  an  advance 
over  at  least  half  of  the  interval  hitherto  believed  to  be 
clearly  existent  between  the  highest  type  of  simia  and 


DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.    163 

the  lowest  type  of  humanity.  If  I  am  right,  my  propo 
sition  proves  that  Buffon  is  wrong,  and  that  the  types 
and  forms  of  species  are  alterable.  By  implication  it 
shows,  also,  that  Lyell  is,  probably,  as  mistaken  in  his 
theory  of  the  extinction  of  certain  species  ;  since,  if,  by 
evolution  of  one  into  another,  different  species  can  pro 
gressively  modify  their  types  and  forms,  it  is  easy  to 
believe  that  no  one  species  may  ever  go  totally  out  of 
existence." 

"  This  sounds  like  a  startling  discovery,  undoubtedly," 
said  Mr.  'Effingham,  with  intense  interest;  "but  are 
you  not  assuming  too  much  human  similitude  for  your 
orang-outan,  from  his  purely  animal  unlikeness  to  the 
types  of  his  family  with  which  you  are  familiar  ?" 

"Why,  you  have  heard  the  measurements  of  his 
head,  sir,  as  compared  with  those  of  man's  and  the 
Pappan's.  They  prove  an  intellectual  development 
more  than  ape,  if  less  than  man.  You  have  seen  him 
walk  upright,  unsupported  ;  though  shuffling  because 
the  smooth  surface  of  the  table  is  yet  insecure  to  feet 
more  familiar  with  grass,  tree-bark,  or  rough  bamboo 
floors.  If  he  yet  stands  on  his  knuckles,  like  all  miases, 
and  has  a  protuberant  jaw  and  chin,  I  shall  soon  train 
him  to  spread  his  toes  (nether  fingers,  if  you  choose,) 
as  he  is  already  learning  to  walk  on  his  soles,  regularly ; 
and  I  could  pick  you  out  thousands  of  prognathous 
skulls  from  among  human  beings  of  the  lower  agricul 
tural  classes  and  city  slums  of  Europe." 

The  prahu  clock  had,  before  now,  reminded  them  of 
the  flight  of  time  by  the  tapping  of  a  flooded  cocoanut- 
shell  on  the  bottom  of  its  tub  and  the  splash  of  another 
in  the  water,  and  the  gentlemen  sat  more  upright  in 
their  chairs,  preparatory  to  a  dispersion.  The  Doctor 
was  becoming  husky  from  so  much  speaking,  and 
hurried  to  his  peroration : 


164  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  I  am  educating  Oshonsee  to  human  ways  as  rapidly 
as  possible,  in  the  not  illogical  hope  that  the  process 
may  develop,  more  to  my  satisfaction,  his  unquestion 
able  sensibility  to  some  past  human  associations.  You 
have  seen  that  I  am  accustoming  him  to  human  dress  ; 
he  eats  the  same  food  with  me,  using  plate,  cup  and 
spoon ;  and  I  shall  soon  have  him  taught  to  hold  and 
smoke  a  pipe.  I  think  his  affection  for  me  increases 
through  this  method  of  treatment,  and  that  he  makes 
proportionately  plainer  to  me  every  day  the  meaning 
of  some  of  his  peculiarities.  Ever  since  he  first  came 
into  my  possession  the  sound  of  any  word  in  English 
has  frenzied  him  beyond  control,  and  made  him  chatter 
his  'O-shon-see!  O-shon-see  !'  like  a  mad  creature. 
When  my  friend,  here,  Colonel  Daryl,  puts  on  his 
sword,  the  animal  goes  into  a  paroxysm  of  terror. 
From  all  of  which  I  am  sure  that  English-speaking 
men,  with  swords,  have  at  some  time  been  pursuers  of 
Oshonsee  in  his  native  wilds.  That  might  have  been 
in  Sumatra,  when  English  ships  have  been  there.  His 
demonstration  with  the  stick  against  Mr.  Dodge,  to-day, 
does  not  altogether  explain  itself  to  my  mind ;  for, 
under  all  his  frenzy  at  the  man's  English,  I  detected 
something  also  very  like  a  kind  of  hysterical  glee.  But 
you  've  had  enough  for  one  lecture,  gentlemen,  and  if  I 
have  not  already  justified  myself  to  your  intelligences 
for  my  high  estimate  of  the  importance  of  this  animal 
to  science,  volumes  more  might  not  avail." 

In  taking  leave  for  the  night,  with  Mr.  Williamson  ; 
as  he  did  soon  after  ;  the  American  merchant  thanked 
his  host  in  all  hearty  sincerity,  and  spoke  to  him  of 
that  last  trophy  in  the  head-house  which  had  seemed 
to  him  so  curious.  The  naturalist  confessed  that  his 
repugnance  to  the  place  had  prevented  his  particular 
notice  of  the  object  in  question,  but  promised  to  ex- 


DR.  HEDLAND  DELIVERS  A  LECTURE.    165 

amine  it  soon  ;  and — Colonel  Daryl  agreeing  to  accom 
pany  them  back  to  Kuchin  on  the  Weltevreden  next 
day — the  Kajah's  aide  and  Mr.  Effingham  withdrew, 
under  pilotage  of  the  reappearing  Kalong,  to  their 
quarters  in  Pa  Jenna's  house. 

The  two  remaining  persons  lingered  over  their  cigars 
and  wine  in  a  conversation  naturally  turning  back  to 
their  common  experiences  in  other  years  and  scenes ; 
the  Colonel  informing  his  friend  of  what  Mrs.  Emngham 
had  told  him  of  the  deaths  and  sorrows  since  he  was  a 
husband  and  widower  in  the  one  hour. 

"Man's  lot  has  not  much  changed  since  the  days  of 
Tacitus,  when  spes  et  prcemia  in  ambiguo ;  certa,  funera 
et  luctus,"  quoted  the  Doctor,  sympathetically. 

The  prahu  clock  tapped  for  midnight,  and  the  ex 
hausted  lamps  sputtered  out,  one  after  another,  while 
old  days  were  yet  being  recalled  ;  and  the  talkers  were 
even  tempted  out  of  doors  and  beyond  the  bridge,  for  a 
noiseless  walk  on  the  moonlighted  veranda,  in  list 
slippers,  before  seeking  their  beds. 

Scarcely,  however,  was  the  ghostly  tramp  begun, 
when  a  figure,  without  coat  and  having  a  handkerchief 
tied  about  the  head,  came  tripping  fantastically  from 
the  shadow  of  one  of  the  houses. 

"Bless  me,  it's  Dodge  !"  muttered  Hedland,  halting 
in  amazement. 

"Excuse  me,  gentlemen,"  enunciated  that  spectre 
of  his  earlier  self,  somewhat  desolately.  "I  could  not 
attend  the  monkey  lecture.  Slight  indisposition.  Dyak 
hospitality.  I  would  ask  you,  however,  Doctor  Hed 
land,  if  you  are  yet  open  to  liberal  negotiations  on 
behalf  of  my  respected  principal,  Mr.  Barnum?" 

"I  answered  you  on  that  point,  sir,  at  Singapore," 
said  the  Doctor,  in  a  mood  to  be  rather  amused  than 
angered  by  the  semi-somnambulist's  pertinacity  ;  "and 


166  THERE  WAS  ONGE  A  MAN. 

I  '11  say  to  you  now,  young  man,  that  you  '11  do  credit 
to  yourself  and  your  country  by  an  immediate  return 
to  your  chamber.  Good  night  to  you — it  is  one  o'clock. " 
"  One  o'clock  !"  echoed  Mr.  Dodge,  turning  in  a  large 
circle  to  retrace  his  steps, — "by  the  feeling  of  my  head 
it  must  be  nearer  half-past  Tuak." 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE. 

Miss  ANKEROO'S  spiritual  inheritance  from  the  Puri 
tan  forefathers  of  her  native  New  England  made  it  im 
possible  for  her  to  be  either  quiescent  or  conservative, 
under  what  the  select  little  circle  of  civilized  Kuchin 
society  was  allowed  to  know  of  the  latest  scientific  as 
sumption.  Refusing  to  judge  it  from  any  other  than 
the  theological  point  of  view,  she  insisted  that  its  ac 
ceptance,  in  any  degree,  meant  nothing  less  than  a 
complete  renunciation  of  the  Biblical  theory  of  man's 
special  creation  in  the  Divine  likeness,  and  his  indi 
vidual  responsibility. 

"If  we  are  all  to  turn  atheistic  materialists  at  last, 
let  us  at  least  be  honest  with  ourselves,"  she  said,  at 
the  breakfast-table,  on  the  morning  after  the  return  of 
the  Simunjon  party.  "  The  meaning  of  all  this  specu 
lation  about  the  man-ward  development  of  apes  is  just 
this :  that  the  Almighty  did  not  create  Man  as  Man, 
but  left  him  to  be  a  subsequent  evolution  from  progres 
sive  elements,  which,  in  the  first  days  of  the  Universe, 
may  have  been  but  atoms  of  the  atoms  gathered  from 
space  to  form  a  slowly  rounding  world.  Men  being  but 
highly  developed  brutes,  brutes  may  as  well  be  but  highly 
developed  vegetables  or  fishes ;  and  vegetables,  or  fishes, 


UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE.  167 

but  ultimate  animations  of  land  and  sea  primeval  coag 
ulations.  To  allow  one  conclusion,  is  to  approve  the 
logic  compelling  final  belief  in  all ;  and  to  believe  in 
any,  is  to  absolve  all  that  is  spiritual,  moral  and  intel 
lectual  in  humanity  from  any  immediate  responsibility, 
to  a  specifically  creating  God,  and  hold  it  accountable 
only  to  the  local  conventions  of  the  last  materialistic 
development  of  what  may  originally  have  been  but  so 
many  particles  of  sand  !  A  nice  man  this  Doctor  Hed- 
land  must  be,  to  give  his  unfortunate  villagers  Christian 
instructions  on  Sunday,  and  then  ask  three  of  his  edu 
cated  fellow-beings  to  credit  that  a  deformed  ourang- 
outan  proves,  by  its  very  monstrosities,  that  its  race  is 
a  natural  incipience  of  ours !  And  he  must  talk  in 
French  before  the  creature,  because  some  past  painful 
mental  association — yes  !  nothing  less  than  mental  asso 
ciation  ! — makes  the  frightful  .animal  frantic  at  the 
sound  of  English ! 

"  Est  ce  que  la  tete  tourne  a  cet  homme?"  asked  Miss 
Ankeroo,  in  withering  practical  satire  upon  the  Doc 
tor's  Gallic  resort — "is  the  man's  head  turned  by  this 
hateful  monkey,  that  he  sets  himself  above  Buffon, 
Saint  Hilaire,  Cuvier,  Owen,  Lyell  and  all  the  other 
great  naturalists  and  geologists  of  the  world  ?  Down 
right  atheism  is  just  what  all  such  stuff  practically 
means — an  absolute  denial  of  the  whole  Biblical  story 
of  the  Creation,  and  a  resolution  of  all  that  is  either 
good  or  bad  in  the  human  soul  into  the  mere  compul 
sory  effects  of  the  unavoidable  circumstances  of  a 
growth  from  the  brute  condition.  There  can  be  no  di 
vine  Father  to  be  especially  prayed  to  by  human  beings 
in  such  a  system  ;  and  I  'd  have  more  respect  for  this 
crazy  Doctor,  if  he  came  out  at  once  and  said,  frankly, 
that  his  monkey  abolishes  the  Supreme  Being  of  re 
vealed  religion. " 


168  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

When  Miss  Ankeroo  took  a  lively  interest  in  any 
subject,  and  particularly  if  it  trenched  upon  religious 
tenets,  her  style  of  remark  was  wont  to  be  rather  de 
clamatory  ;  perhaps  from  some  of  her  earlier  scholastic 
habituations.  Probably  her  mood  was  more  serious  and 
her  judgment  more  sweeping  on  this  occasion  than 
were  those  of  some  of  the  other  people  in  Kuchin  to 
whom  the  same  topic  had  been  similarly  commended. 
At  the  Kajah's,  for  instance,  an  amiably  whimsical  pos- 
tulation  of  a  characteristically  sardonic  motive  for  the 
grim  philosopher's  theory  about  Oshonsee,  induced 
more  apparent  amusement  than  reprobation.  Never 
theless,  what  the  latest  comers  from  the  Dyak  village 
felt  themselves  at  liberty  to  divulge,  in  detail,  of  that 
which  they  had  seen  and  heard  there,  left  in  certain  re 
flective  minds  an  under-current  of  unspoken  thought  by 
no  means  wholly  unsympathetic  with  the  lady's  radical 
treatment  of  the  matter. 

But  the  first  missionary  spirit  in  Sarawak  troubled 
herself  little  to  know  whether  her  sentiments  in  this 
relation  were  echoed,  or  not.  Having  spoken  her  own 
mind,  she  contemptuously  dismissed  the  whole  heretical 
fantasy  from  further  contemplation,  and  gave  renewed 
energy  to  her  daily  infant-school,  and  projected  Sunday 
meeting  for  native  girls  and  women. 

In  the  evening  Mr.  Dodge  was  to  start,  by  trading 
schooner,  on  his  return  to  Singapore,  and,  in  a  few 
hours  before  the  time  of  departure,  he  and  Miss  Ank 
eroo  chanced  to  be  left  by  themselves  in  the  general 
room :  he  looking  over  the  latest-received  number  of 
the  Straits  Times,  and  she,  at  a  table,  prosecuting 
her  tireless  study  of  Marsden.  The  miniature  academy 
had  been  dismissed  ;  Berner  and  the  servile  staff  were 
preparing  dinner  in  the  outer  buildings  ;  Mr.  Effing- 
ham  wrote  letters  in  his  private  chamber  ;  Mrs.  Effing- 


UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE.  169 

ham  had  withdrawn  with  her  needlework  to  the 
veranda,  and  sounds  of  youthful  voices,  at  intervals, 
were  wafted  up  from  the  garden  with  the  rustle  of 
leaves,  and  hum  of  bees,  and  odor  of  sweet  blossoms. 

In  the  shaded  light  by  which  he  was  trying  to  read 
his  newspaper,  Mr.  Dodge  found  the  whole  effect  of 
the  domestic  situation  so  perilous  of  undesirable  slum 
ber,  that,  after  several  futile  efforts  to  master  an  article 
upon  the  reported  engagement  of  American  ships  in  the 
atrocious  Coolie  trade  between  China  and  Peru,  he 
allowed  the  weekly  sheet  to  settle  quietly  into  his  lap, 
and  gazed,  for  wakefulness,  at  the  fair  student's  half- 
bowed  profile. 

"  I  really  beg  your  pardon,  Miss  Ankeroo,"  he  said, 
when  caught  at  it.  "I  should  have  gone  to  sleep  if  I 
had  looked  at  anything  else." 

"  And  no  wonder— over  such  newspapers  as  there  are 
in  this  part  of  the  world  !"  remarked  the  practical  lady, 
closing  her  book  for  the  moment.  "I  feel  sometimes, 
myself,  as  though  I  would  almost  give  my  eyes  to  see 
the  Boston  Advertiser  once  more." 

"But  this  isn't  so  bad,  for  a  new  paper,  in  a  place 
like  Singapore,"  pleaded  the  adopted  citizen  of  that 
ambitious  port,  referring  to  his  so  lately  unreadable 
sheet.  "Our  friend,  Belmore,  out  here,"  (with  a 
motion  of  his  head  toward  the  garden)  "should  have 
taken  you  to  the  new  Times  offices,  while  he  was 
escorting  all  of  you  to  see  the  lions  of  the  town.  The 
proprietors  are  going  to  establish  a  spacious  public 
news-room,  to  be  supplied  with  files  of  all  the  princi 
pal  journals  and  commercial  magazines  in  the  world. 
They  talk,  too,  of  printing  and  binding  books  and  doing 
lithographic  work." 

"  Importing  their  workmen  from  Europe  ?" 

"Oh,  no;  not  at  all.     They  employ  Malays,  China- 


170  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

men,  Portuguese,  Klings,  Javanese,  and  even  Hindoos ; 
and,  really,  the  way  such  printers  can  '  set  up '  English 
without  understanding  a  dozen  words  of  it,  is  curious  to 
see.  "When  you  are  all  in  Singapore,  again,  on  your 
way  home,  I  '11  do  myself  the  honor  of  showing  your 
party  to  the  Times  quarters — that  is,  if  my  services 
are  acceptable  and  the  Lieutenant  visit  there  again." 

"Is  the  Times  your  only  paper?"  inquired  Cousin 
Sadie,  calmly  regardless  of  the  personal  reference. 

"  There  is  the  old  Free  Press  a  dozen  years  older. 
Kajah  Brooke  writes  in  it  occasionally ;  so  it  has  been 
looked  upon,  in  a  way,  as  his  organ.  That  may  start 
the  Times  against  him,  some  day.  But  newspapers 
are  the  same  the  world  over,  Miss  Ankeroo.  Just 
think  of  one  of  them  publishing  a  rumor  that  Mr. 
Effingham's  Comanche  has  gone  up  to  China  as  a 
slaver,  after  Coolies  !  I  wonder  if  young  Belmore  has 
seen  that,  yet  ?" 

"I'm  sure  I  can't  say.  It's  too  ridiculous  for  any 
one's  notice.  But,  Mr.  Dodge, "  said  Miss  Ankeroo,  with 
more  alertness  of  manner,  "I  can't  help  observing  that 
you  refer  very  often  to  this  young  man.  Perhaps  Mr. 
Emngham  has  not  told  you,  that  Colonel  Daryl  knew 
my  cousin  Julia's  family  well,  in  his  youth,  when  he 
and  this  monkeyfied  Dr.  Hedland  were  on  a  visit  to  the 
United  States  together.  To  tell  the  whole  truth,  the 
Colonel  was  a  great  admirer  of  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Effing- 
ham,  now  dead.— We  are  so  few  here,  in  this  wild  place, 
who  speak  the  same  language  and  can  associate  with 
each  other,  that  I  see  no  sense  in  having  any  mystifica 
tion  amongst  ourselves. — Well,  at  Batavia  we  became 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Belmore ;  and  he  happened  to  be 
at  Singapore,  too,  convalescing  from  a  slight  sunstroke  ; 
and  here,  in  Borneo,  the  chapter  of  accidents  makes  us 
find  his  uncle,  the  Colonel.  It  is  an  exceptional,  Gypsy- 


UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE.  171 

fied  kind  of  life  we  are  all  leading  ;  the  very  houses  are 
more  like  tents  than  like  permanent  habitations ;  and, 
of  course,  what  English-speaking  people  there  are  in 
such  a  community  must  naturally  be  more  or  less  like 
one  family." 

This  long  speech  was  designed  to  restrain  at  least  one 
temporary  member  of  the  limited  community  in  ques 
tion,  from  judging  immediate  social  aspects  as  though 
they  had  been  presented  by  the  normal  good  society  of 
a  Christian  country.  The  gentleman  from  Singapore 
fully  appreciated  the  feminine  tact  of  its  inspiration, 
and  his  shrewd  hazel  eyes  lighted  with  a  certain  humor 
ous  perception,  also. 

"  Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that,"  he  said,  with  an 
assenting  nod.  "  I  know  how  it  is  with  myself,  yet,  in 
Singapore :  any  one  coming  to  '  The  United  Straits'  with 
straight  English  on  his  tongue,  is  immediately  a  cousin, 
at  least,  in  my  affections.  So  it 's  a  sunstroke,  is  it,  that 
keeps  our  young  sailor- friend  so  long  off  his  ship  ?" 

"I've  understood,"  returned  the  lady  primly,  "that 
Mr.  Belmore  had  what  they  call  the  '  coast  fever, '  three 
or  four  years  ago,  when  his  vessel  was  at  Tripoli.  He 
has  never  been  perfectly  strong  since,  and  I  suppose 
his  sunstroke,  in  the  Java  Sea,  may  be  attributed  to 
that." 

Mr.  Dodge  raised  himself  in  his  chair,  to  glance 
with  wider  range,  for  a  moment,  through  the  handiest 
window  ;  but  whether  to  ascertain  within  how  close  an 
earshot  Mrs.  Effingham  was  sitting,  or  to  assure  himself 
that  the  audible  talkers  in  the  garden  were  not  approach 
ing,  did  not  seem  clear. 

"  Even  sailors  must  expect  to  be  sunstruck  sometimes, 
I  suppose,"  he  observed  ;  "but  I  needn't  ask  if  it  ever 
occurs  to  you,  at  all,  that  the  Lieutenant  may  be 
daughter-struck. " 


172  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Miss  Ankeroo's  spectacles  concentrated  upon  his  face 
in  a  searching  focus,  and  the  trim  educator  of  youth 
tapped  the  bridge  of  her  shapely  little  nose  with  a  pro 
fessional  wooden  lead-pencil. 

"Do  you  know,  Mr.  Dodge,"  said  she,  musingly,  "I 
fancy,  at  times,  that  I  can  detect  a  gleam  of  meaning  in 
what  you  say  ?  Do  you  really  think—" 

"  No  ma'm,  not  at  all,"  struck  in  the  possible  mischief- 
maker,  in  haste  to  redeem  himself :  "  I  never  had  a  dozen 
thoughts  in  all  my  life,  but  think  the  visual  line  that 
girds  me  round,  the  world's  extreme. — Pollock's  '  Course 
of  Time. '  Did  you  ever  read  Pollock,  Miss  Ankeroo  ? 
— Because,  if  you  ever  did — don't !" 

"  I  do  declare  !"  exclaimed  Cousin  Sadie,  rising  impa 
tiently  from  her  chair  and  tucking  the  dictionary  under 
a  plump  left  arm.  "  What  is  the  use  of  ever  trying  to 
talk  sense  to  a  man  !  If  you  could  join  my  Dyak  Sunday 
Bible  class,  sir,  I  might  teach  you  to  be  serious  for  once !" 

He  had  a  genuine  desire  to  propitiate  this  quick- 
minded,  yellow-haired,  comely  little  Yankee  woman. 
She  had  been  an  object  of  real,  homelike  pleasantness 
to  his  sight  from  the  hour  when  he  first  set  eyes  upon 
her ;  and  now,  as  she  stood  there,  on  the  mat  by  the 
table,  so  coolly  neat  in  her,  close-fitting,  practical  dress 
of  brown  Hollands  ;  a  very  becoming  flush  of  momen 
tary  temper  on  her  wholesome  face  ;  he  would  have 
given  anything  not  to  have  started  her  off.  Yet — such 
is  the  power  of  trivial  mental  habit — he  could  not  help 
saying  : 

" '  Sinner,  turn ;  why  will  you '  Dyak  ?" 

A  door  opened  and  shut  sharply,  in  token  of  Miss 
Ankeroo's  unspeakably  disdainful  retirement :  leaving 
Mr.  Dodge  ample  leisure  to  repent,  in  solitude,  and 
then  betake  himself  to  preparation  for  the  dinner  that 
was  to  preface  his  embarkation  for  Singapore. 


UNDER  TEE  DURION  TREE.  173 

But  other  conversation,  indistinct  murmurs  whereof 
had  partly  suggested  the  one  already  given,  went  on  yet 
in  the  garden  ;  where,  seated,  at  colloquial  distance, 
upon  a  rustic  bamboo  settee,  in  the  shade  of  the  durion 
tree,  Miss  Effiugham  and  Lieutenant  Belmore  enjoyed 
the  rising  afternoon  breeze  together. 

It  seems  that  there  should  be  opportunity  to  give  a 
pretty  picture  here.  No  setting  could  have  been  more 
suggestive  to  the  artistic  instinct,  more  grateful  to  the 
artistic  eye,  than  the  palm-roofed  house  and  its  creeper- 
loaded  palisade  inclosure ;  the  former  lifted  into  a 
pavilion-like  effect  by  its  supporting  natural  colon 
nade,  and  showing  against  a  background  of  lofty, 
umbrella-shaped  tree-tops,  rock-patched  mountain  jun 
gle  and  fleece  of  dappled  sky,  like  some  primitive  ark 
stranded  half  way  up  its  vernally  regenerated  Ara 
rat  ;  the  latter  shutting  out  waterside  declivity,  squalid 
Malayan  town,  and  the  sweep  of  circumjacent  wilder 
ness,  from  within  living  green  walls  to  a  spacious  quad 
rangular  valley  of  yellow  paths,  sumptuous  banks  of 
flowers  strange  and  familiar,  and  occasional  graceful 
tree-ferns,  fruit  palms  and  elm-like  altitudes  of  rustling 
verdure,  seen  only  in  the  Tropics. 

Half  in  the  dense,  cool  shadows  of  gigantic  Nypa, 
majestic  durion,  or  delicate  mangosteen  ;  half  in  the 
full,  mellow  light  of  an  Equatorial  afternoon  ;  the  cos 
mopolitan  rose,  jessamine,  veronica  and  lily  shared 
their  fertile  beds  with  chumpaka,  kenangee,  and  other 
odorous,  brilliant  plants  of  an  eternal  summer.  Ferns 
of  every  size  and  shape,  from  the  low  clump  of  emerald 
fans  to  the  great  pandanus  shaft  of  leaves  large  enough 
for  sails,  made  flower-lighted  groves  to  the  eye  at  every 
turn  ;  and  across  floral  bank  and  foot-path,  from  stem 
of  palm  to  bough  of  fruit-tree,  swung  luxuriant  ropes 
of  the  milky  jantawon  creeper.  The  choicest  natural 


174  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

growths  of  the  soil  had  been  reinforced  here  by  treas 
ures  from  the  fine  Botanical  Garden  of  Singapore, 
under  the  enthusiastic  skill  of  the  negro,  Ambrose  ; 
and  the  quick  result  in  that  climate  of  the  Equator  was 
a  feast  of  color  and  palmated  form  possible  only  in  the 
teeming  lands  of  the  sun. 

Scarcely  satisfactory  could  be  any  picture  in  words 
of  a  scene  so  combining  civilized  design  and  rank  wild- 
ness  that  the  abruptness  of  the  association  imparted  an 
effect  of  strangeness  to  ordinarily  familiar  objects,  and 
made  unaccustomed  features  the  stranger  from  the  jux 
taposition.  Pictorial  efforts  in  language  must  always 
be  more  confusing  than  definitely  graphic  to  the  imagi 
nation,  when  dealing  with  sights,  or  forms,  greatly  un 
like  whatsoever  the  minds  appealed  to  can  recall  of 
their  own  past  perceptions.  It  is  by  graphic  strokes  of 
the  familiar,  even  in  his  most  foreign  delineations,  that 
the  successful  word-painter  conveys  a  clear  and  com 
pact  image  of  that  which  he  describes  ;  and  where, 
both  elementally  and  consummately,  all  is  practically 
strange,  the  receptive  intelligence  can  perceive  but  a 
vague  generalization  of  effect  in  which  there  is  little 
informing  soul  of  realizing  detail. 

Applying  this  rule  to  literature  descriptive  of  persons, 
the  inference  is,  that  the  vividest  pen-picture  of  an  in 
dividual  can  reproduce  to  the  mental  eye  only  the  su 
perficialities  of  feature,  form  and  dress  ;  for  each  human 
being  has  characteristic  details  of  expression,  manner 
and  complete  aspect  in  some  wise  different  from  those 
of  any  other  mortal.  These  differences  in  which  all 
distinctive  individuality  of  character  exists,  can  be  illus 
trated  to  the  reader  by  no  suggestions  of  familiar  com 
parison,  any  more  than  the  distinguishing  details  of  leaf 
and  branch  in  one  oak-tree  can  be  imaginatively  realized 
with  exactness  by  reference  to  any  or  all  other  oak-trees. 


UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE.  175 

If  it  is  impossible  for  a  painter  to  make  an  accurate  pic 
ture  literally  from  even  the  most  minutely  elaborate  de 
scription  of  remotely  foreign  landscapes  wholly  unknown 
to  his  observation,  it  is  equally  impracticable  for  an  ar 
tist  to  draw  exactly  the  most  masterly  example  of  hu 
man  character-portrayal  from  print.  Both  painter  and 
draughtsman  must  idealize  more,  or  less,  to  supply  the 
inevitable  deficiency  of  comprehensible  graphic  definite- 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  and,  to  that  extent, 
make  the  pictures  their  own.  Thus,  the  cleverest 
book-illustrations,  whether  of  Travel  or  Romance,  owe 
as  much  to  the  artist's  imaginations  as  to  the  author's 
delineations  ;  and  even  the  romancer  himself,  if  he 
chances  to  be  a  draughtsman  also,  can  seldom  draw 
from  his  own  descriptions  a  picture  coming  anywhere 
near  what  he  would  have  it  particularly  represent. 

To  this  day  Borneo  is  so  much  a  land  of  anomalous 
mystery  for  the  civilized  world,  save  only  in  a  mere 
segment  of  its  vast  circumference  of  coast,  that  even 
literary  voyagers  assuming  to  be  the  most  familiar  with 
the  few  ports  and  provinces  -accessible  to  Europeans, 
halt  curiously  in  all  their  attempts  to  describe  such  a 
characteristic  view,  for  instance,  as  is  presented  by  a 
Borneon  forest.  The  reason  is,  that  such  a  forest 
rarely  suggests  any  one  single  familiarity  of  usual 
Tropical  description  that  can  be  seized  upon  to  help 
either  writer  or  reader  to  an  associatively  expressible 
idea  of  its  novel  effect  to  the  eye.  Palm  and  jungle 
are  but  indefinite  sky  and  groundwork  of  a  scene  in 
finite  in  its  striking  diversities  from  forests  beheld 
elsewhere  in  the  Tropics  themselves,  and  which  can 
be  represented  by  no  familiar  types  of  delineation.  A 
story  like  the  present  one,  having  its  principal  action 
in  a  country  so  scarcely  describable,  can  achieve  little 
more  exactness  of  pictorial  illustration  than  may  exist 


176  THEEE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

in  its  fidelity  of  general  local  color.  As  for  its  actors, 
it  is  a  question  whether  or  not  they  have  all  thus  far 
interpreted  themselves  with  sufficient  definiteness  of 
detail  to  be  clear  individual  existences  in  the  reader's 
apprehension. 

Now  here,  within  sight  of  us  at  this  moment — made 
strange  by  the  surrounding  of  such  a  landscape,  and 
making  it  the  stranger  by  their  presence — are  Mrs. 
Effingham,  sitting  at  her  needlework  on  the  veranda, 
under  the  palm  eaves — a  graceful  bending  figure  robed 
in  dark  barege ;  Ambrose,  in  straw  hat  and  brown 
linen,  bowing  his  glistening  black  face  to  the  weeding 
of  a  bed  near  the  palisade-opening  toward  the  river, 
with  Cherubino  beside  him  in  the  usual  cap  and  checks, 
putting  maddening  inquiries  for  the  cause  of  every 
movement ;  and,  on  the  bamboo  sofa  in  the  shade  of 
the  wild  durion  tree,  the'  young  naval  officer  in  gold- 
laced  cap,  blue  camlet  coat,  sword-belt  and  white  trou 
sers,  and  the  daughter  of  the  house  in  fleecy  pink,  with 
her  black  curls  gathered  back  by  a  ribbon  into  one  rip 
pling  mass  beneath  the  farther  curve  of  a  Leghorn 
"Gypsy"  hat.  Of  these,  the  mute  abstracted  needle- 
worker  on  the  veranda  should  have  shown  for  herself, 
by  this  time,  a  sufficiently  suggestive  personality  ;  even 
the  small-boy  may,  perhaps,  be  distinctively  developed 
as  a  positive  irritant ;  but  how  much  more  than  a  larger 
boy  has  been  seen  in  the  invalided  lieutenant  of  the 
Cressy,  and  how  much  more  than  a  pretty  school 
girl  in  his  fair  companion  ?  Indeed  the  two  have  yet  to 
be  found  working  out  their  own  illustrations,  from  out 
line  to  full  figure,  and  here,  in  this  garden  in  Borneo, 
let  them  begin  it. 

"  Every  day  my  Uncle  is  more  urgent  that  I  shall  re 
turn  to  duty,"  were  the  words  the  young  man  was  say 
ing,  as  a  previously  somewhat  desultory  talk  went  on, 


UNDER  THE  DUEION  TREE.  Ill 

"and  I  have  coaxed  the  Kajah  to  allow  me  to  go  with 
him  on  the  Bruni  expedition,  as  a  volunteer,  so  that  I 
may  have  at  least  a  fortnight  longer  on  this  delightful 
island.  After  that,  I  really  must  go  back  to  Singapore, 
I  suppose,  to  look  for  my  ship." 

"With  hands  clasped,  the  one  arm  hanging  and  the 
other  across  the  back  of  the  seat,  he  sat  with  face 
toward  her  and  a  pathetically  deploring  expression 
upon  it.  Sitting  slightly  forward,  measuring  a  fan  me 
chanically  between  finger-tips  in  her  lap,  her  charming 
head  turned  far  enough  in  his  direction  for  ingenuous 
communion  of  eyes,  she  heard  and  saw  his  regret  with 
unaffected  sympathy. 

"We  shall  all  be  so  sorry  to  have  you  go,"  she  said. 
"Mamma  and  you  get  along  so  well  together,  and  Papa 
and  Cousin  Sadie  take  your  kindness  about  their  Singa 
pore  mails  and  other  things  so  much  as  a  matter  of 
course,  that  we  shall  be  fairly  homesick  without  you." 

"I  don't  want  you  to  think  me  conceited,  Miss  Effing- 
ham,"  returned  he  ;  "  but,  upon  my  word,  you  know,  I 
hope  the  event  will  go  a  little  hard  with  T/OM,  particu 
larly." 

"  Oh,  I  shall  be  more  than  sorry, "cried  the  girl,  with 
out  the  least  coquettish  pretense  of  reserve  in  the  mat 
ter.  "  You  have  been  so  good  to  us,  so  thoughtful  for 
us  in  every  way,  in  this  strange  country,  that  it  will 
not  seem  half  so  pleasant  and  safe  to  me  when  you  are 
gone.  How  could  it  ?" 

Belmore  was  not  distinctly  conscious  of  having  been 
able  to  exercise  any  marked  protective  power  in  the 
case  ;  but  it  was  very  grateful  to  his  masculine  instinct 
that  feminine  helplessness  should  so  innocently  credit 
him  with  it.  He  did  not  detect  quite  what  he  coveted, 
however,  in  her  unhesitating  gratitude. 

"  I  wonder  how  long  you  'd  be  sorry  if  we  never 


178  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

should  meet  again  ?"  he  went  on,  with  a  weak  relapse 
into  some  of  his  old  boyishness.  "  After  this  little  pic 
nic  of  ours,  to-morrow,  I  shall  turn  fighting-character 
once  more,  and  smell  gunpowder.  There  is  no  doubt, 
they  say,  that  the  rebel  pangeran  up  at  Bruni — Usop,  I 
believe,  his  outlandish  name  is — will  give  our  ships  a 
warm  reception.  I  may  be  killed,  you  know." 

A  momentary,  undefinable  change  passed  over  Miss 
Effingham's  sensitive  countenance ;  but  before  her 
watchful  observer  could  fairly  catch  it  she  shocked 
him  with  a  little  peal  of  laughter. 

"I  don't  believe  it,  Mr.  Belmore,"  was  her  comment, 
with  a  sportive  shake  of  the  head. 

"  May  I  ask  why  ?"     (With  some  dignity. ) 

"  Because  I  feel  sure  that  if  you  thought  so,  yourself, 
you  wouldn't  go." 

She  laughed  again,  and,  after  an  instant's  blushing 
impulse  of  resentment,  Belmore  frankly  gave  way  to 
merriment  also. 

"Dear  me!  I'm  afraid  you're  too  right,"  he  con 
fessed,  with  another  blush.  "  Perhaps  if  I  knew  that 
there  was  actually  a  bullet  billeted  for  me  at  Bruni,  I 
shouldn't  be  quite  so  brave.  But  you  ought  not  to  be 
so  cruel  to  a  poor  fellow's  little  vanity,  Miss  Effingham, 
when  you  must  know,  very  well,  that  if  I  am  particu 
larly  willing  to  live  just  now,  it  is  because  I  want  to  see 
you  again." 

"  Then  there  really  will  not  be  much  danger  where 
you  are  going — will  there  ?"  asked  Abretta,  the  least 
possible  deeper  tint  rising  to  her  cheeks,  and  her  man 
ner  the  least  bit  fluttered. 

"  Oh,  I  may  only  lose  an  arm,  or  some  trifle  of  that 
kind,"  the  lieutenant  began ;  but  he  was  far  too  soft 
hearted  to  work  long  upon  any  one's  feelings,  even  in 
such  a  case  as  this,  and  closed  his  pretended  forebodings 


UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE.  179 

with  a  laugh  designed  to  drive  away  the  gravity  begin 
ning  to  show  in  the  expressive  black  eyes  meeting  his 
cloudless  blue  ones. 

"You  are  too  kind  to  us  to  wish  us  to  be  unhappy 
about  you,"  answered  the  young  lady,  responding 
rather  to  his  manner  than  to  his  words. 

"  I  hope  I  am.  Only— only— you  see,  it 's  natural  for 
one  like  myself  to  want  his  friends  to  care  a  little  for 
what  happens  to  him.  You  can  scarcely  imagine,  Miss 
Effingham,  how  new  and  pleasant  my  experiences  have 
been  to  me  since  I  met  your  family  in  Java,"  he  con 
tinued,  with  increasing  earnestness  and  a  fall  in  his 
voice.  "  Losing  both  of  my  parents  while  I  was  only 
a  boy  yet,  and  going  into  the  navy  as  soon  afterward  as 
possible,  I  am  quite  a  savage  in  my  ignorance  of  home- 
life  and  gentle  society.  Uncle  Will  has  never  given  me 
much  encouragement  to  cultivate  what  social  opportuni 
ties  there  are  for  an  officer  of  my  grade  in  foreign  ports. 
He  tells  me  that,  until  I  am  at  least  a  captain,  I  shall 
only  be  tolerated  from  general  respect  for  the  service, 
and  should  feel  too  much  pride  in  our  respectable 
descent  to  enjoy  that  kind  of  notice.  There  never 
was  a  more  benevolently  unsordid  nature  than  his,  in 
most  things  ;  but  he  is  extraordinarily  bitter  over  the 
heartlessness  of  society,  all  the  world  round,  for  poor 
gentlemen.  Of  course  I  have  been  greatly  influenced 
by  him,  and  have  fought  shy  of  anything  like  social 
patronage.  This  is  why  my  acquaintance  here  with 
you,  and  your  father  and  mother  and  cousin,  has  been 
a  perfect  novelty,  as  well  as  a  delight  to  me.  Your 
father  plainly  don't  care  a  pin  whether  I  'm  an  admiral 
or  a  boatswain,  and  your  mother  makes  me  feel  all  the 
time  as  though  I  wanted  her  to  know  everything  about 
me  that  I  know  myself.  Then  there 's  Miss  Ankeroo, 
who  lets  me  get  books  and  things  for  her  from  Singa- 


180  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

pore,  when  I  know  that  she  'd  treat  me  like  a  forward 
boy  if  I  was  not  in  her  good  graces  to  a  special  degree. 
I  sha'n't  say  what  it  has  been  to  me  to  know  you,  your 
self,  Miss  Effingham  ;  because  we  've  been  two  young 
folks  together,  and,  for  one,  I  am  bold  enough  to  say 
that  it 's  beyond  any  happiness  I  ever  dreamed  could 
be  possible ;  but  don't  you  see  how  naturally  I  hate  to 
tear  myself  away  now,  and  long  to  believe  that  you  '11 
all  be  sorry  to  have  me  go?" 

;  Abretta  listened  to  this  honest  expression  with  a 
sympathy  showing  undisguised  in  her  look  of  responsive 
interest ;  yet  when  it  was  her  impulse  to  answer  with 
the  free  warmth  of  a  sister  to  a  brother,  some  instinc 
tive  embarrassment  suddenly  turned  her  speech  to 
awkwardness : 

"It  is  natural,  I  think,  to — to — like  those  who  like 
us,"  she  said,  uneasily  twirling  her  fan,  and  looking 
down.  In  a  moment,  however,  youth's  impatience 
with  sensations  it  cannot  understand  made  her  raise 
her  eyes  fearlessly  again  to  his,  and  she  added  :  "  There 
is  not  one  of  us,  Mr.  Belmore,  who  will  not  be  anxious 
every  hour  while  you  are  at  Bruni.  I  don't  see  why  my 
being  a  girl  should  make  me  ashamed  of  good  human 
feeling,  and  I  '11  say,  for  myself,  that  I  wish  you  were 
not  going  where  there  is  to  be  any  fighting."  Before 
he  could  put  into  words  what  the  brightening  of  his  face 
intimated,  she  hurried  to  a  diversion  :  "But  will  you 
have  your  uncle  with  you  ?" 

"No,  he  will  remain  here  until  the  Expedition  has 
done  its  work,  and  then  he  expects  to  meet  me  at 
Singapore." 

"  He  must  be  a  very  kind,  good  man,  at  heart,  from 
what  you  have  told  us  of  him,"  proceeded  Miss  Effing- 
ham,  with  some  remaining  precipitancy  of  tone.  "  I 
thought  him  cold  and  inclined  to  what  I  took  for  a  very 


UNDER  THE  DUR10N  TREE.  181 

pronounced  military  hauteur,  when  he  first  came  here 
with  the  Rajah.  Who  could  wonder  at  it,  though, 
when  he  mistook  Mamma  for  my  poor  Aunt  Caroline  ?" 

"  There,  you  see,  is  another  reason  why  I  should  feel 
particularly  drawn  toward  you  all,  Miss  Eftingham — 
that  curious  romance  of  Uncle  Will's  with  your  family, 
so  many  years  ago,'1  suggested  the  young  officer,  with 
renewed  animation.  "It  must  have  been  a  pretty 
serious  matter  to  affect  the  whole  life  of  a  man  like 
him.  I  'm  sure  our  elders  don't  let  you  and  me  into 
half  the  seriousness  of  it.  There  's  an  old  story,  I  've 
heard,  about  his  jumping  recklessly  off  a  boat  in  the 
river,  before  he  left  the  States,  to  save  somebody's  life  ; 
and  while  that  would  be  very  like  him  in  a  general  way, 
there  is  a  suggestion  in  the  story,  as  I  remember  it, 
that  he  would  just  as  soon  have  lost  his  own  life  as  not. 
Besides,  he  seems  to  me  to  have  grown  four  or  five 
years  older  since  he  came  up  here  from  Singapore  with 
Mr.  Wise.  I  think  that  the  meeting  with  your  mother, 
Miss  Effingham,  has  been  a  saddening  revival  of  some 
especially  bitter  memory  for  him." 

"Why,  you  know,  he  had  not  heard  before  that  Aunt 
Caroline  was  dead,"  said  Abretta. 

"  And  your  Aunt — oh,  I  am  sure  she  could  not  have 
been  one  to  trifle  with  the  feelings  of  such  a  man  !" 

"  The  ladies  of  our  family  have  always  been  ladies, 
Mr.  Belmore,"  Abretta  reminded  him,  with  offended 
grandiloquence. 

"Beg  your  pardon — I  shall  never  doubt  that.  If  I 
thought  otherwise ;  knowing  as  I  do  what  a  lifelong 
martyr  from  some  early  great  unhappiness  my  Uncle 
has  been;"  he  added,  involuntarily  straightening  and 
flushing,  "I  could  not  have  any  very  kind  thoughts  for 
the  people  or  the  country  associated  with  a  wrong  to 
my  best  living  friend — my  second  father  1" 


182  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

The  long-lashed  girlish  eyes  in  the  shade  of  the 
"Gypsy"  hat  dilated  as  he  spoke,  and  the  short  upper- 
lip  gave  the  faintest  suggestion  of  a  curl.  The  youthful 
pair  were  separately  English  and  American  at  some 
possible  points  of  thought,  and  none  the  less  so  because 
the  Englishman  was  descended  from  an  American  great- 
grandmother. 

"As  my  Aunt  was  incapable  of  knowingly  injuring 
any  one,  and  is  dead,"  remarked  Miss  Effingham,  tap 
ping  her  delicate  chin  with  the  fan,  and  casting  a  look 
toward  where  her  mother  now  stood  on  the  veranda, 
"  I  think  we  may  suppose  that  you  need  not  be  preju 
diced  against  our  country  on  her  account.  If  your 
Uncle,  who  seems  so  noble  in  some  respects,  can  allow 
himself  to  give  way  to  the  usual  English  injustice  to 
America,  and  be  a  blighted  character  all  his  life,  because 
an  American  lady  either  refused  him  her  hand,  or  did 
not  give  him  enough  encouragement  to  ask  for  it,  he 
must  be  weaker  than  I  have  ever  thought  a  high-minded 
man  and  especially  a  brave  soldier,  could  be." 

"Probably  we  are  both  of  us  too  young  to  judge  a 
man  like  my  Uncle,  Miss  Efnngham,"  intimated  the 
nephew,  with  lofty  coldness. 

"That  may  be  true,  sir.  I  do  not  pretend  to  any 
particular  competence  for  estimating  character ;  but  I 
know  what  I  admire,  and  the  grandest  Englishman,  to 
my  eyes,  that  I  have  ever  seen,  is  the  Kajah." 

The  poor  young  sailor's  heart  was  already  sick  within 
him  at  this  first  little  ruffle  in  their  ideal  friendship — as 
it  had  been  to  him — and  the  last  fine  touch  of  feminine 
temper  failed  to  cut  when  he  saw  the  pathetic  quaver 
of  lip  and  eyelid  by  which  it  was  incongruously  accom 
panied. 

"Now  I  have  offended  you,  great  goose  that  I'm 
always  making  of  myself,"  he  pleaded,  penitentially. 


UNDER  THE  DURION  TREE.  183 

"There 's  Mamma  coming  to  meet  us,"  the  girl  said, 
rising. 

"  Only  one  minute  more  !"  he  exclaimed,  rising  also, 
and  placing  himself  between  her  and  the  approaching 
matron,  with  his  back  to  the  latter.  "  I  can't  stand  it 
to  have  you  angry  with  me — I  'd  sooner  ask  your  pardon 
on  my  knees !  After  the  pic-nic  to-morrow  we  may 
never  meet  again.  Who  knows  ?  Now  won't  you  just 
say  it 's  all  right  again,  before  your  mother  comes  ?" 

Those  black  eyes  which  he  so  admired  evaded  his 
challenge  for  an  instant,  and  then  impulsively  met  it 
with  a  bright  smile. 

"  Cousin  Sadie  would  call  us  a.  pair  of  stupids  !"  she 
said,  blushing  and  laughing  very  prettily  together  ; 
and  Belmore  knew  that  it  was  "  all  right  again." 

"  My  dear,  is  it  not  time  for  you  to  be  preparing  for 
dinner  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Emngham,  coming  up  to  them  in 
her  usual  tranquil,  unhurried  way. 

"That's  a  hint  for  me,  too;  isn't  it?"  said  the 
young  man.  "  I  never  know  when  to  leave  when  I  am 
here." 

"And  must  you  go  now  ?  Can't  you  dine  with  us, 
Mr.  Belmore  ?" 

"A  thousand  thanks;  but  I'm  pledged  to  Uncle 
Will  to-day.  Be  good  enough,  won't  you,  Mrs.  Emng 
ham  ?  to  tell  Mr.  Dodge  that  I  '11  row  out  to  the 
schooner  and  bid  him  good-by.  Until  the  pic-nic, 
then,  ladies,  adieu!" 

He  lifted  his  cap,  caught  the  younger  lady's  glance 
for  an  instant  as  a  final  reassurance,  and,  with  a  bow, 
turned  down  the  path  to  the  river. 

And  mother  and  daughter  watched  him  as  he  went ; 
two  figures  looking  etherially  picturesque  and  artistic 
in  the  softening  shadow  of  the  durion  ;  while  the  up 
right  elastic  form  going  from  them  in  the  beating 


184  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN, 

sunlight  was  as  luminous,  over  flower-banks  and 
through  palm-leaves,  by  contrast,  as  a  hasty  young 
day,  leaving  twilight  and  its  veiled  stars  behind  him. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  PIC-NIC  AT  THE  FORT. 

IF  all  of  the  houses  erected  for  Europeans  on  the 
hills  and  knolls  about  Kuchin,  during  the  first  three  or 
four  years  of  the  English  Kajahship,  had  been  occupied 
by  the  full  families  of  their  owners,  the  Christian  society 
of  the  town  would  not  have  lacked  a  sufficiently  propor 
tionate  feminine  element  to  assure  and  maintain  the 
usual  refined  sociabilities  of  civilized  life.  But  such 
was  not  the  case.  A  majority  of  the  new,  Swiss- 
cottage-like  structures  were  scarcely  more  than  the 
lodgings  of  members  of  the  Kajah's  staff ;  or  the  bach 
elor-halls  of  English,  or  Dutch,  traders  who  had  been 
attracted  from  Singapore,  Java,  or  even  India,  by  the 
rising  commercial  fame  of  Sarawak ;  or  the  business- 
offices  of  agents  of  some  of  the  more  enterprising  gen 
eral  shippers  of  the  Archipelago.  To  these  residents 
the  place  had  yet  somewhat  the  temporary  character  of 
an  encampment,  and  the  married  ones  postponed  the 
calling  of  their  wives  and  children  thither  until  they 
could,  at  any  rate,  be  more  sure  of  the  permanence  of 
their  own  stay.  Nevertheless,  a  few  of  the  more  san 
guine  and  positive  white  comers,  from  ports  not  far 
away,  brought  their  families  with  them,  and  their 
households  contained  the  only  English-speaking  mem 
bers  of  the  gentler  sex  to  whom  those  arriving  later 
could  look  for  womanly  countenance.  If  the  American 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  185 

ladies  had  been  less  capable  than  they  were  of  finding 
much  compensation  for  this  peculiar  social  situation  in 
its  suggestive  novelty,  their  experience  of  life  in  Borneo, 
limited  as  it  was  to  be,  would  have  been  intolerably  con 
strained  and  lonely.  But  they  had  gone  thither  with 
an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  exceptional  conditions 
to  be  encountered ;  chose  rather  to  submit  to  them  in 
any  supposable  phase  than  be  separated  from  husband 
and  father  ;  and  were  quite  willing  to  bear  their  utmost 
strangeness  for  the  sake  of  looking  on,  for  a  while,  at 
the  progress  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  passages  in 
modern  history. 

When,  therefore,  the  local  social  outlook  was  found  to 
be  exactly  what  these  fair  visitors  might  have  expected, 
they  adapted  themselves  cheerfully  to  its  limitations. 
Mr.  Effingham's  early  acquaintance  with  two  or  three 
of  the  Europeans  with  families  led  presently  to  such 
amenities  between  his  and  their  ladies  as  were  prac 
ticable  in  a  community  where  the  river  was  the  most 
eligible  way  to  the  house  of  one's  nearest  civilized 
neighbor.  Perhaps  once  a  week  Mrs.  Effingham  and 
her  daughter,  or  Mrs.  Effingham  and  Miss  Ankeroo, 
were  rowed  in  a  mat-canopied  sampan,  under  guardian 
ship  of  the  phlegmatic  Berner,  for  an  afternoon  call 
upon  the  Mertons,  or  the  Yon  Camps  (as  they  may  be 
named  for  present  purposes) ;  or  received  like  aquatic 
courtesies  from  the  dames  and  damsels  of  those  friendly 
houses  in  their  own  home.  If  the  visiting-list  was  soon 
exhausted,  it  had,  for  that  very  reason,  a  charm  of  its 
own  ;  and  the  roundabout  navigation  involved,  by  rea 
son  of  there  being  no  sign  of  such  a  thing  as  either 
street  or  road  in  the  whole  province  of  Sarawak,  would 
have  made  a  wider  range  of  inter-visitation  scarcely 
desirable  under  a  Borneon  sun. 

The  "*pic-nic"  suggested  by  Mr,  Belmore  to  signalize 


186  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

his  last  day  in  Kucliin,  prior  to  the  Bruni  expedition, 
was  to  include  Mr.  and  Mrs.  and  Miss  Merton,  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Yon  Camp,  who,  with  the  Effinghams  and 
himself  (Cousin  Sadie  declining)  would  make  a  party 
congenial,  if  small.  Miss  Merton  being  at  once  juvenile 
and  unavoidable,  it  was  also  decided  to  include  Master 
Cherubino  for  her  casual  neutralization  ;  and  the  objec 
tive  point  of  the  watery  journey  was  to  be  an  old  Malay 
fort  on  the  river-bank,  about  two  miles  down  the  turn 
of  the  stream  below  the  town,  where,  in  the  days  of  the 
Sarebas  and  Sakarran  pirates,  many  a  savage  battle 
had  been  fought. 

When,  on  the  afternoon  appointed  for  this  simple  fes 
tival,  the  private  boats  of  the  three  families  were  mar 
shaled  opposite  the  Effingham  house,  for  a  start,  it  was 
observed  that  the  Lieutenant,  all  attired  in  snowy  duck, 
had  brought  a  boat  much  in  style  like  an  English 
wherry,  with  an  awning  of  striped  blue-and-white  cloth 
over  the  middle,  on  movable  iron  rods. 

"  I  've  borrowed  it  of  a  Company's  light  cruiser  down 
below,  at  the  anchorage,"  he  explained,  even  before 
being  asked  ;  "  for,  as  I  'm  a  sailor,  you  know,  I  want 
to  do  a  little  rowing,  myself." 

The  other  craft  were  canoes  with  peaked  canopies  of 
matting  over  two  midship  seats,  and  high  stems  and 
sterns,  at  each  of  which  stood  a  lithe  Dyak  waterman 
with  a  paddle. 

"  You  see,  I  can  take  the  two  little  people  with  me, 
if  they  can  be  trusted  in  that  way,"  continued  this 
obliging  young  man.  "  Though,  to  be  sure,"  he  added, 
as  though  suddenly  struck  by  the  idea,  "I  suppose  it 
would  be  safer  if  some  one  else  should  be  with  us." 

"I  should  say,  that  the  less  load  you  have,  the  less 
will  be  your  chance  for  another  sunstroke,  Mr.  Bel- 
more,"  observed  Mr.  Effingham,  dryly. 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  187 

"  And  I  would  advise  you,  sir,  to  take  our  lightest 
weight  with  you,  at  any  rate, ' '  said  stout  and  amiable  Mr. 
Von  Camp,  who  saw,  as  they  all  did,  what  he  wanted. 

"Well,  I  never  could  talk  my  way  to  anything  dex 
terously,"  laughed  the  young  Englishman,  in  some 
confusion.  "  The  plain  fact  is,  I  do  want  Miss  Effing- 
ham  to  let  me  be  her  boatman  this  time." 

"Honestly  said,  lad!"  cried  Mr.  Merton,  a  little, 
light-haired  exile  from  Manchester,  attired,  like  the 
other  elders,  in  a  thin  blue  suit  and  straw  hat.  "If 
the  young  lady  can  resist  that,  I  'm  mistaken." 

"And  she's  so  light,"  chorused  Mrs.  Yon  Camp 
and  Mrs.  Merton,  with  admirable  good  nature. 

"I  suppose  all  four  of  the  children  must  go  together, 
for  once,"  assented  Mrs.  Effingham,  looking  smilingly 
at  her  husband  ;  and,  as  he  graciously  nodded,  and  the 
sailor  extended  a  hand,  Abretta  demurely  stepped 
into  the  wherry  with  the  small  people. 

In  any  country  of  polite  usages  the  scheme  of  transit 
necessitated  in  this  excursion  by  water  would  have  been 
ludicrous  ;  for  the  several  married  pairs  embarked  each 
in  its  respective  native  boat ;  all  three  of  the  husbands 
carrying  fire-arms  with  them,  as  though  duck-shooting 
might  be  a  purpose  of  the  unsociably  distributed 
party.  Berner,  with  the  hampers  and  two  aboriginal 
subordinates,  went  ahead  in  a  separate  canoe  to  assure 
practicable  ingress  for  them  at  the  designated  landing ; 
the  wherry  led  the  family  procession,  because  its  oars 
man  was  to  be  the  professional  guide,  and  then  followed, 
in  line,  the  other  boats. 

But  in  the  scenery  of  a  wilderness,  where  the  over 
whelming  preponderance  and  massive  complications  of 
inanimate  Nature  make  the  native  man  comparatively 
as  insignificant  as  the  commonest  brute  of  his  own  for 
est,  and  the  human  intruder,  from  without,  little  more 


183  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

imposing  than  a  mere  automaton  of  petty  incongruity, 
the  less  ostentation  of  civilized  state  there  is  in  the  con 
ventional  forms  observed  by  casual  Christian  invaders, 
the  less  unfortunately  conspicuous  is  the  suggestion  of 
so  many  minnows  assuming  importance  upon  their  ad 
vent  to  an  unexplored  ocean. 

The  appropriateness  of  the  spectacle  presented  by 
the  foreign  water-party  under  consideration  was  in  its 
modest  acceptance  of  appearances  in  keeping  with  the 
silent  spirit  of  the  scene  ;"  the  very  hiding  of  the  dresses 
of  civilization  under  the  tent-like  awnings  of  mats  on 
the  canoes  being  a  happy  concession  to  the  consistency 
of  Nature's  eternal  harmony.  The  Dyak  figures  at  the 
up-curling  prows  and  almost  vertical  sterns  of  the  na 
tive  boats, — in  conical  hats  of  plaited  rattan,  and  sleeve 
less  striped  frocks,  belted  at  waist  with  red  sarongs  tied 
scarf-wise, — were  in  chromatic  as  well  as  bodily  con 
sonance  with  the  picture  all  round  ;  and  while  the 
white-clad,  temporarily  hatless  young  English  rower 
and  his  wherry  certainly  jarred  upon  the  esthetic 
sense,  the  forms  of  children — always,  like  flowers,  con 
sistent  in  any  hues  or  modes  of  dress  with  any  vernal 
clime — and  of  the  girl,  in  her  graceful  broad  hat  and 
neutral-tinted  muslin, — softened  even  them  into  a  kind 
of  allowably  fantastic  relief  to  the  scenic  monotone. 

To  splash  and  prismatic  spray  of  British  oar  and 
Borneon  paddle,  the  course  of  the  little  voyage  was 
past  the  riverside  campongs  of  the  Chinese  and  Ma 
layan  populace  and  through  a  swarm  of  watercraft 
great  and  small  in  the  anchorage  overlooked  by  the 
Eajah's  house.  Near  the  Weltevreden  was  the  Eng 
lish  corvette  destined  to  start  with  the  ruler  of  Sara 
wak  for  Bruni  on  the  morrow,  and  from  the  several 
small  boats  plying  busily  back  and  forth  between  it  and 
the  government  wharf  more  than  one  naval  officer 
waved  a  hand  to  Belmore. 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  189 

"They  arc  my  coming  shipmates,  you  know,"  ob 
served  that  gentleman  to  Miss  Effingham. 

But  tide-washed  town,  and  picturesque  fleet,  and 
rolling  green  heights  on  either  side  with  bamboo  Swiss- 
cottages  among  the  palms,  were  soon  left  behind.  Be 
tween  narrowing  banks  of  dense  jungle,  mighty  Nypas 
and  snake-rooted  mangroves,  the  little  flotilla  went  on 
down  the  watery  valley,  in  the  grateful  shadow  of  hills 
showing  every  tint  that  sunlight  can  produce  on  inter 
posing  verdure.  Even  in  this  nearness  to  familiar 
human  habitation  and  protection,  there  was  a  solitary 
wildness  in  the  view  on  every  hand,  a  suggestiveness 
of  unimaginable  savage  mystery  in  this  mere  covert 
verge  of  vast  and  unknown  Borneo,  that  disposed  the 
strange  voyagers  more  to  wrapt  contemplation  than  to 
speech. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  never  leg-wearied  Cherubino 
did  not  come  wholly  under  this  rule  ;  for,  after  a  series 
of  unsmiling  climbing  and  stumbling  revolutions  around 
the  doll-like  Miss  Merton  in  the  middle  of  the  boat, 
during  which  he  cross-examined  her  as  to  why  she 
wore  each  article  of  dress  or  ornament  that  he  could 
indicate  with  a  moistened  forefinger,  the  inquiring 
child  suddenly  realized  that  his  older  companions  par 
ticularly  desired  to  remain  quiet,  and,  accordingly, 
found  himself  irresistibly  impelled  to  address  them. 
"With  one  of  those  abrupt  changes  of  attention  from 
one  object  to  another  so  often  astonishing  the  nerves  of 
elderly  childless  observers  of  children,  the  boy  discon 
tinued  an  attempt  to  look  Miss  Merton  out  of  counten 
ance  with  his  nose  almost  touching  hers,  in  order  to 
lurch  startlingly  to  the  side  of  the  boat  and  stare  in 
tensely  at  the  shore. 

"Why,  J  don't  see  any  monkeys  !"  he  cried,  with  a 
shrill  emphasis  on  the  personal  pronoun,  as  though  the 


190  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

presence  of  a  multitude  of  indigenous  simise  in  the  over 
hanging  trees  had  been  specially  announced  by  somebody 
else. 

"  Look  into  the  water,  and  you  '11  see  one,"  muttered 
the  indignantly  disenchanted  Lieutenant. 

In  childlike  unconsciousness  of  the  sarcasm  intended 
by  this  piece  of  advice,  the  literal  Cherub  forthwith 
folded  so  long  a  section  of  his  upper-person  so  far  over 
the  wherry's  edge  in  search  of  the  predicted  animal, 
that  his  sister  sprang  toward  him  with  a  cry  of  alarm, 
and  his  affrighted  adviser  "  caught  a  crab"  with  his  oars 
in  a  spasmodic  effort  to  row  and  rescue  simultaneously. 

"Oh,  'Bino,  how  disagreeable  you  can  be  !"  was  the 
sisterly  expression  of  feeling,  as  the  active  little  fellow, 
summarily  drawn  back  by  his  waistband,  braced  himself 
perpendicularly  again  across  the  boat,  in  the  shape  of  a 
spiked  check  triangle. 

"  Then  why  didn't  they  let  Nellie  Merton  and  me  go 
in  the  boat  with  Berner  ?"  asked  the  Cherub,  in  a  tone 
of  reproachful  inquiry.  "  But  I  know  why,  'Bretta,"  he 
added,  before  any  one  else  could  speak— "Mr.  Belmore 
took  us  along  because  he  wanted  you  in  his  boat,  I  '11 
bet  you!" 

What  rebuke  is  ever  adequate  for  frenzying  words  of 
this  preternaturally  regardless  description  from  the  mer 
cilessly  guileless  lips  of  unpurchasable  childhood  ?  Miss 
Effingham  attempted  none,  but  turned  dangerously 
sparkling  eyes  and  burning  cheeks  away  from  all  who 
could  see  them.  The  Lieutenant,  rowing  suddenly 
harder,  as  for  his  life,  fixed  a  stony  look  upon  the  top  of 
Miss  Merton's  straw  "flat,"  and  murmured  something 
wistful  of  deep-sea  soundings  for  a  "detestable  little 
beggar."  The  small-boy  whistled  indefinitely  for  a 
moment  over  the  ruin  he  had  wrought ;  and,  then,  find 
ing  a  nail  amongst  the  numerous  other  necessaries  of 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  191 

life  in  one  of  his  pockets,  was  blighted  into  blessed 
quietude,  for  nearly  five  minutes,  by  the  despairing 
hopelessness  of  obtaining  a  hammer  to  drive  it  into  the 
handiest  wooden  surface. 

Where,  at  last,  a  landing  was  to  be  effected,  the  river 
indented  the  shore  in  a  softly  surging  pool,  blackening 
into  vague  dimness  of  outline  in  the  shadow  of  dense 
overhanging  foliage.  A  tongue  of  land,  carrying  man 
groves,  jungle  and  wild  pepper  bushes,  or  vines,  to  its 
very  tip,  traversed  the  arrested  waters  for  a  short  dis 
tance  and  was  washed  on  the  other  side  by  a  brook-like 
tributary  stream,  winding  through  thicket  and  forest  as 
far  as  the  sunlight  could  be  seen  upon  it.  Between  the 
extremity  of  the  little  cape  and  the  converging  opposite 
bank,  a  great  "boom"  of  tree-trunks,  lashed  together 
with  rattan  and  secured  by  ropes  of  cocoa  fibre,  had 
once  obstructed  the  Sarawak  against  the  invading  prahus 
of  head-hunting  Sea-Dyaks  ;  while  the  six  pounders  and 
swivels  of  a  fort  situated  to  command  either  side  of  the 
headland  were  designed  no  less  to  repel  possible  internal 
assailants  from  up  the  river,  than  the  Illanaons,  or 
Giloloans,  or  Sakarrans,  sallying  in  from  the  ocean. 

Debarking  at  an  opening  that  had  been  cut  through 
the  jungle  growth  by  the  parang-latoks  of  Berner's 
native  pioneers,  the  boating  visitors  made  their  way, 
between  trees  fairly  webbed  over  by  creepers,  into  what 
had  once  been  a  stronghold  of  the  bandhara  Muda 
Hassim's  Malayan  fighters.  It  was  a  quadrangular 
clearing  in  the  thicket,  fifty  feet  across,  inclosed  to 
about  the  height  of  a  man's  head  in  stout,  piles,  against 
which  the  weedy  turf  and  earth  dug  from  the  centre 
had  been  packed  in  a  smooth  slant,  save  where  shallow 
embrasures  were  left  for  partly  imbedding  the  guns. 
Less  than  half  a  dozen  years  of  abandonment  had  turned 
this  dismantled  fortification  of  the  headland  woods  into 


m  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

a  symmetrically  terraced  hollow  of  matted  grass,  weed 
and  ground-vine,  giving  a  grateful  spring  to  the  foot. 
Encompassing  the  sides  of  the  shelving  green  square 
were  palms,  all  varying  in  altitudes  and  umbrageous 
contours,  between  which  the  water  gleamed  from  three 
points  and  the  darkening  vistas  of  the  inland  wood  were 
discernible  at  the  fourth. 

Mats  from  the  boats  were  spread  upon  the  grassy 
slopes,  and  Berner  and  his  men  actually  carried  their 
canoe  from  the  water  into  the  fort,  where  it  served  at 
once  for  cupboard,  wine-cellar  and  table.  No  one,  how 
ever,  was  immediately  inclined  to  sit.  The  three  married 
gentlemen  made  early  excuses  to  stroll  out  of  a  former 
rear  passage,  or  sally-port,  with  their  guns,  on  the 
chance  of  finding  something  interesting  to  shoot ;  the 
children  lost  no  time  in  clambering  to  one  of  the  em 
brasures,  and  Lieutenant  Belmore,  left  not  reluctantly 
to  be  the  squire  of  dames,  led  the  ladies  by  an  easy 
ascent  to  one  of  the  merlons  of  the  old  battlement, 
where,  in  safe  view  of  Cherubino  and  Miss  Nellie,  a 
favorable  sight  of  adjacent  and  lower  objects  might  be 
obtained. 

Mrs.  Merton  and  Mrs.  Yon  Camp  had  seen  the  place 
before  ;  but  to  the  Effinghams  this  was  their  first  near 
acquaintance  with  a  true  Tropical  wilderness.  Abretta 
and  her  mother  gazed  with  eager  interest  at  the  dim 
forest-opening  so  close  at  hand,  and  the  older  lady 
remarked  that  it  was  curious  to  find  a  fort  thus  backing 
upon  a  covert  in  which  legions  of  enemies  might  crawl 
safely  to  its  very  walls. 

"Ah,  that  is  because  the  whole  fighting  genius  of 
Borneo  is  seagoing,"  answered  the  sailor.  "On  land, 
both  the  Malays  and  the  Dyaks  Laut  are  comically 
miserable  warriors  ;  they  have  no  tactics  as  soldiers, 
know  nothing  of  military  engineering,  and  European 


THE  PIC-NIC  AT  THE  FORT.  193 

troops  would  have  only  to  mow  them  down  with  grape- 
shot  and  musketry ;  but  put  twenty  to  fifty  of  them 
into  each  of  those  prahus  of  theirs,  give  them  their 
sumpitans,  spear-hooks,  krisses  and  noisy  tom-toms, 
and  they  are  formidable  foes  for  either  ship  becalmed 
or  sleeping  waterside  village.  A  fort  to  repel  them 
needs  only  to  be  on  guard  toward  the  sea,  and  difficult 
enough  of  access  from  thence  to  prevent  any  compact 
rush  of  the  landing  pirates.  In  the  jungle,  amongst 
the  trees,  between  this  and  the  water,  in  front  and  on 
both  sides,  pointed  bamboo  sticks,  called  patobongs,  or 
ranjows,  were  planted  thickly  to  cut  the  feet  of  advanc 
ing  enemies.  Sometimes,  too,  holes,  like  those  tiger- 
pits  we  saw  out  of  Singapore,  are  dug  for  the 
entrapment  of  the  besiegers,  covered  carefully  with 
weeds  and  having  sharp  stakes  set  upright  at  the  bot 
tom.  But  then,  in  a  great  majority  of  cases,  if  the 
piratical  ruffians  know  that  there  is  any  kind  of  a  fort 
in  readiness  for  them,  and  they  cannot  pass  it  by  water, 
not  much  is  to  be  feared  from  their  attacks.  I  daresay 
that,  with  the  '  boom  '  there  used  to  be  in  the  river,  a 
few  awkward  shots  between  the  trees,  from  the  guns  in 
these  battlements,  were  enough  to  send  fifty  pirate  pra 
hus  rowing  back  to  sea." 

"  I  have  often  wondered,"  said  Abretta,  "  how  these 
pirates,  in  such  boats  and  with  such  weapons,  could  ever 
capture  large  commercial  vessels  with  arms  on  board." 

"Generally,  they  have  succeeded  by  night-surprises, 
or  by  pouncing  treacherously  upon  ships  disabled  by 
storm,  or  wreck,"  returned  the  Lieutenant.  "The 
two  English  sailors  whose  release  we  are  going  up  to 
Bruni  to  demand,  were  carried  off  from  a  wreck  on  the 
northern  coast  by  some  of  Pangeran  Usop's  miscreants. 
Along  the  whole  three  thousand  miles  of  this  immense 
island's  coast  the  shore  is  virtually  one  great  water- 


194  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

jungle,  in  which  the  pirate  craft  can  lie  securely  hidden 
and  from  which  they  can  dart  out  at  any  passing  prey. 
If  they  find  the  latter  prepared  and  too  strong  for  them, 
they  may  fire  a  shot  or  so  with  their  antiquated  bow- 
chasers,  or  swivels  ;  but,  generally,  they  row  right  away 
against  the  wind,  and  so,  of  course,  cannot  be  overtaken 
by  sail.  Rajah  Brooke's  Royalist  was  fired  on,  one 
night,  as  she  went  up  to  Bruni." 

"  No  more  such  work  as  that,  since  our  great  Rajah 
and  Captain  Keppel  gave  them  a  taste  of  English  gun 
powder  last  year  and  the  year  before,"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Merton,  patriotically. 

"  It  certainly  did  them  a  world  of  good,  Mrs.  Mer 
ton ;  but  it's  to  be  feared  that  they'll  require  more, 
yet,  before  those  Arab  shereef  leaders  of  theirs  realize 
that  their  day  is  finally  over." 

"If  the  Eajah  would  only  catch  and  execute  a  few 
of  those  same  shereefs,"  suggested  Mrs.  Yon  Camp. 

"  Has  Mr.  Brooke  ever  ordered  the  execution  of  any 
one,  Mr.  Belmore  ?"  inquired  Abretta. 

"No. — Or,  that  is,  not  directly,  I  believe,"  replied 
the  young  man.  "He  has  in  co-operation  with  him, 
you  know,  the  native  magistrates  called  the  Bandhara, 
or  officer  of  State,  the  Patingi,  or  officer  of  War,  and 
the  Tumangong,  or  chief  of  Admiralty  affairs.  Until 
he  can  complete  a  code  of  his  own,  he  governs  by  what 
is  known  as  the  Oudong-Oudong,  or  old  written  Native 
law.  Cases  have  come  up  under  this  law  two  or  three 
times,  when,  by  the  judgment  of  the  magistrates,  death 
was  the  penalty.  Not  feeling  justified  in  setting  aside 
the  law,  Mr.  Brooke  allowed  it  to  take  its  course,  and 
the  culprits  were  walked  into  the  jungle  behind  your 
present  charming  home,  Miss  Effingham — that  was 
while  it  was  the  Government  House— and  there  krissed 
to  death." 


THE  PIG-NIC  AT  THE  FORT.  195 

"Horrible!"  murmured  Miss  Effingham,  with  a 
shudder. 

"  I  should  not  have  told  you  that,  perhaps,"  said  Bel- 
more,  compunctiously.  "But  let  me  add,  that  the 
prisoners  were  atrocious,  irreclaimable  wretches,  and 
that  the  punishment  is  really  very  merciful.  The  kris 
is  placed  with  the  point  over  the  heart,  and  a  single 
sharp  blow  on  the  hilt  is  said  to  produce  death  instan 
taneously." 

"We  seem  to  have  drifted  into  an  unpleasant  branch 
of  the  subject — chiefly  through  your  too  personal  ques 
tion,  my  dear,"  interposed  Mrs.  Effingham.  "  Are  not 
those  our  gentlemen  below  ?" 

From  the  base  of  the  green  wall  upon  which  they 
were  standing  there  was  a  slight  descent  to  the  edge  of 
the  main  woodland.  Into  the  latter  Mr.  Effiugham  and 
his  companions  had  penetrated  as  far  as  high  military 
boots  and  reasonably  vigorous  aggressiveness  of  limb 
might  assure  progression ;  but  even  the  parang-latoks 
of  the  attendant  Dyaks  could  assist  such  laborious 
travel  only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  If  mere  jungle 
gave  way  to  the  keen  edges  and  powerful  leverage  of 
these  weapons,  like  grass  under  scythes,  it  was  not  so 
easy  to  cut  avenues  between  mighty  trees,  enormous 
tree-bushes,  and  dense  brakes  of  gigantic  reeds,  all  in 
such  close  proximity  to  each  other,  and  so  wound  round 
and  round  with  endless  ropes  of  creepers,  that  only  a 
large  body  of  woodmen  could  have  opened  farther  pas 
sage  through  them.  When  it  is  necessary  to  clear  a 
space  in  a  Borneon  forest,  no  ordinary  tree  can  be 
brought  down  singly.  After  chopping  partly  through 
a  multitude  of  trunks  with  their  peculiar  little  adzes, 
the  Dyaks  select  the  tallest  and  stoutest  tree  to  be 
found  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  designed  clearing,  and 
make  its  resistless  fall  the  means  of  bringing  down  the 


196  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

whole  creaper-ensnarled  system  of  lesser  woods.  So  it 
was  that  the  three  gentlemen  got  no  deeper  in  their 
sylvan  stroll  than  to  be  more  or  less  distinctly  visible, 
yet,  to  the  group  on  the  neglected  battlement.  "While 
that  group  was  descending  to  rejoin  them  through  the 
primitive  sally-port,  they  went  on  with  the  conversa 
tion  that  had  begun  at  their  enforced  halt. 

"To  see  the  birds  and  beasts  belonging  here,"  Mr. 
Von  Camp  was  saying,  from  his  general  experience  as 
an  Archipelago  traveler,  "  one  must  come  at  about  sun 
rise,  or  near  sunset.  Excepting  the  wild  hogs,  and, 
possibly,  the  cucans,  or  Malayan  lemurs,  the  beasts 
keep  silent  and  out  of  sight  for  the  main  part  of  the 
day,  especially  in  the  forest-edges  likely  to  have  human 
visitors.  At  morning  and  evening,  however,  the  birds 
and  monkeys  set  up  a  terrible  hubbub,  and  can  be  seen 
in  flocks  and  troupes  among  the  high  branches." 

"There  are  no  orang-outans,  I  believe,  in  the  whole 
Sarawak  valley,"  Mr.  Merton  observed  ;  "yet  they  are 
plentiful  to  the  west  of  us,  in  Sambas,  and  to  the  east, 
along  the  Sadong." 

"The  reason  for  that  was  explained  to  me  after  I 
had  seen  the  amazing  creatures  in  the  trees  of  Simun- 
jon,"  said  Mr.  Effingham.  "The  Malays  of  Songi 
village,  on  a  branch  of  the  Sadong,  told  me  that  the 
mias  is  found  only  in  forests  where  the  land  is  marshy 
as  well  as  level.  The  forests  on  the  Simunjon  river,  a 
branch  of  the  Sadong,  and  over  the  whole  twenty  miles 
between  that  and  the  seacoast,  are  low  and  swampy ; 
in  fact  the  same  conditions  prevail  through  that  whole 
mias  country,  for  a  hundred  miles  north  and  east  of 
Sadong.  In  the  Sarawak  valley  the  land  is  chiefly  dry 
and  hilly.  The  animal,  as  I  have  been  informed,  also, 
dislikes  rising  grounds.  There  are  scattered  hills  in 
his  forests  on  which  the  Dyak  villagers  cultivate  fruit- 


THE  PIG-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  197 

trees,  and  these  he  ascends  in  the  night-time  to  steal 
his  favorite  unripe  durions.  But  only  under  stress  for 
food  will  he  have  anything  to  do  with  high  lands." 

"  It  is  curious,"  philosophized  Mr.  Yon  Camp,  "  that 
the  great  man-apes  of  Asia  and  Africa  have  coats  of 
the  same  hues  as  the  complexions  of  the  human  beings 
around  them.  In  Africa  they  are  black ;  in  Borneo 
and  Sumatra  they  are  reddish  yellow,  like  the  Dyaks, 
or  brownish  black,  like  the  Malays.  If  I  remember 
rightly,  in  South  America  the  same  rule  holds  good." 

"You  and  Dr.  Hedland  should  compare  notes,  Mr. 
Yon  Camp,"  said  Mr.  Effingham. 

"Ah,  by  the  way,  you  have  seen  the  Doctor's  famous 
prize.  What  did  you  think  of  the  creature  ?" 

"  Oshonsee  is  a  great,  a  wonderful  curiosity.  I  never 
before  saw  anything  in  brute  form  so  humiliatingly  like 
our  species." 

The  ladies  and  their  naval  escort  now  came  picking 
their  way  with  some  difficulty  to  the  shadowy  game- 
preserve,  and  at  once  indulged  in  much  pleasant  banter 
upon  the  failure  of  the  gun-bearers  to  distinguish  them 
selves  as  sportsmen.  Then  followed  an  hour  of  such 
very  limited  rambling  as  was  practicable  over  ground 
so  stubbly  and  amongst  growths  so  slightly  penetrable. 
Lieutenant  Belmore  gallantly  exhausted  his  utmost 
local  information  to  entertain  the  fair  patrons  of  his 
pic-nic  plot  with  objects  previously  known  to  him. 
The  parang-latok  of  one  of  the  Dyak  peasants  was  ex 
amined,  and  shown  to  be  something  like  a  long  razor, 
tapering  from  tip  to  haft  and  bent  to  an  angle  with  the 
hilt.  To  cut  crops,  or  jungle,  and  to  sever  a  pig  at  one 
blow,  this  sharp  instrument  was  equally  adapted  ;  differ 
ing  from  the  parang-ihlang,  or  Dyak  war-sword,  prin 
cipally,  in  being  rounded  at  the  point  like  a  knife-blade, 
and  having  the  angular,  or  razor-like,  junction  with  the 


198  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

handle.  Through  intervals  of  other  trees,  Sago  and 
Areca  palms  could  also  be  pointed  out  in  the  distance  ; 
the  latter  showing  a  handsome  blossom,  and  yielding 
an  egg-shaped  nut  whereof  the  pulp  is  used  in  betel. 
An  object  resembling  a  Titanic  inverted  bush,  its 
branches  all  bare  and  sticking  into  the  ground,  and  its 
roots  elevated  high  in  the  air,  with  leaves  upon  them, 
was  explained  as  a  fig-tree.  The  only  floral  displays  in 
any  way  brilliant,  were  those  of  a  slender  shaft,  perhaps 
thirty  feet  high  and  bushy  at  the  top,  with  crimson 
stars  blooming  in  thick  clusters  all  the  way  up  the 
trunk  ;  and  of  some  genus  of  parasitical  plant,  hanging 
from  a  low  bough  in  long,  swaying  spikes  of  purple- 
spotted  orange-colored  flowers.  These  were  novel  and 
gorgeous  enough  in  themselves,  but  far  from  being  suffi 
cient  to  realize  the  popular  idea  of  an  Equatorial 
forest's  splendor  of  blossom. 

MissEffingham  ingenuously  exhibited  her  disappoint 
ment  at  this  shortcoming,  and  Mr.  Yon  Camp  replied  : 

"  There,  my  dear  young  lady,"  said  he,  "  is  where  the 
world's  imagination  persists  in  being  wrong.  In  India, 
in  South  America,  in  Mexico,  in  the  West  Indies,  and, 
I  dare  say,  in  the  southern  part  of  your  own  country, 
the  flowers  of  the  forest  are  far  more  numerous  and 
lovely  than  any  thus  far  seen  in  this  so-called  Garden  of 
the  Equator ;  while  in  a  given  number  of  cultivated  miles 
of  either  American,  or  English,  or  German  soil,  you 
may  find  such  riches  of  blooming  plants  as  the  most 
luxuriant  wilderness  never  presents.  It  is  laborious 
human  cultivation  that  makes  flower,  as  well  as  fruit, 
an  appreciable  blessing  to  man.  Why,  look  at  fruit, 
now,"  continued  the  Anglicized  Dutch  philosopher, 
gazing  round  at  his  little  audience.  "  In  a  civilized 
land  a  homeless  man  can  find  in  summer  woods  and 
fields  the  berries,  or  grapes,  or  apples,  or  pears,  or  what 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  199 

not,  to  be  food  for  him  in  variety.  But  here,  in  this 
region  of  endless  summer,  what  does  the  needy  native 
traveler  choose  to  eat  amongst  all  the  fruits  and  edible 
growths  of  his  vast  forests  ?  Nothing,  I  assure  you, 
but  '  palm  cabbages, '  which  he  makes  wholesome  with 
a  little  salt !  Everything  else  for  which  this  climate  is 
famous,  in  the  eatable — and  even  potable — line  ;  from 
coffee,  and  nutmegs,  and  figs,  and  bananas,  and  mangos- 
teens,  up  to  cocoanuts,  bread-fruit  and  durions ;  must 
be  subjected  to  systematic  human  cultivation  before 
even  the  natives  care  to  partake  of  it." 

"Is  the  bread-fruit  found  on  this  island?"  inquired 
Mrs.  Efnngham. 

"  I  think  not,  madame.  It  is  best  known  as  coming 
from  Amboyna,  a  little  island  south  of  Ceram  in  the 
eastern  Moluccas.  In  talking  of '  this  climate,' "  added 
Mr.  Von  Camp,  "  I  mean  that  of  the  whole  East  Indian 
Archipelago." 

The  ramble  of  the  company  was  extended  far  enough 
across  the  little  headland  for  a  view  some  distance  up 
the  inlet  entering  on  the  farther  side  and  winding  into 
the  wooded  obscurities  of  the  island.  In  patches  of 
sunshine  showing  about  the  stream  before  it  reached 
the  darker  arches  of  the  leaning  trees  of  either  bank, 
brilliant  flashes  of  color  could  be  discerned  traversing 
the  white  air,  and  might  have  been  mistaken  for  small 
birds  had  not  Mr.  Yon  Camp  maintained  that  they 
were  ornithopterous,  or  bird-winged,  butterflies.  No 
boat  of  white  men  had  ever  attempted  to  go  up  this 
tributary  thread  of  water  yet ;  and  how  far  it  pene 
trated,  and  whether  the  wild  hogs,  deer  and  tiger-cats 
of  the  region  came  to  it  at  night,  were  questions  the 
gentlemen  with  the  guns  would  have  been  pleased  to 
solve  if  time  and  the  occasion  had  been  more  favorable. 

Upon  the  return  to  the  embowered  fort  it  was  found 


200  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

that  Berner  had  gone  nearly  into  apoplexy  between 
efforts  to  assure  proper  temperatures  for  the  claret  and 
sherry,  and,  simultaneously,  keep  due  watch  and  ward 
over  Nellie  Merton  and  his  juvenile  master.  Once, 
only,  had  he  ventured  to  turn  his  back  wholly  upon 
the  miniature  flirtation  in  the  embrasure,  while  giving 
the  final  touches  to  his  canoe-sideboard  ;  and  during 
that  brief  interval  the  comforting  Cherub  had  suc 
ceeded  in  plunging  headlong  from  his  height  to  the 
ground  beyond,  in  a  proud  young  endeavor  to  destroy 
Miss  Merton's  nerves  by  standing  on  one  foot  upon  the 
extremest  crumbling  verge  of  the  parapet.  A  custom 
of  not  crying  in  such  crises,  lest  parental  or  other  el 
derly  cognizance  should  tend  to  the  lessening  of  imme 
diate  future  enjoyments  of  the  same  kind,  made  the 
contused  lad  able  to  refrain  from  alarming  noises  in 
this  instance,  and  the  appearance  of  his  head  obliquely 
girded  with  the  far  more  agitated  Swiss  butler's  hand 
kerchief  was  the  first  notification  to  his  guardians  and 
their  friends  that  he  had  once  more  escaped  the  violent 
death  so  alert  to  attend  the  simplest  acrobatic  diver 
sions  of  children  with  whom  it  is  hard  for  the  world  to 
part. 

There  was  a  light  luncheon,  with  the  wine,  on  the 
mats  spread  over  the  grass.  Berner  had  in  store 
chicken  and  other  cold  viands,  and  the  materials  for 
salads ;  but,  as  dinner  was  to  be  eaten  at  home,  so 
soon,  fruit  was  the  refreshment  chiefly  in  demand. 

"By  the  way,  I've  got  a  bit  of  a  curiosity  to  show 
you  all,"  remarked  Mr.  Merton,  receiving  from  one 
of  his  boatmen  something  rolled  in  leaves.  Throwing 
aside  the  latter  he  exhibited  an  object  resembling  a 
withered  orange.  "  That,"  he  continued,  handing  it 
to  be  passed  around,  "is  a  fruit  once  so  common  in 
Borneo  that  it  gave  the  island  its  native  name — Pulo 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  201 

Kalamantan.  It  is  the  Kalamantan,  now  found  only 
in  the  far  interior,  I  believe,  and  said  to  be  intolerably 
sour  eating." 

"  It  is  thought  by  some  authorities  to  be  the  aborig 
inal  form  of  the  durion  ;  a  wilder  species,  I  mean,  than 
the  wild  durion  of  the  coast,"  Mr.  Yon  Camp  said,  not 
willing  to  be  eclipsed  in  a  field  he  had  so  lately  thought 
principally  his  own. 

"Have  you  learned  how  to  eat  durions,  yet,  Mrs. 
Effingham  ?"  asked  Belmore. 

"No,"  said  the  lady,  looking  amused.  "Peter 
brought  one  to  the  house  soon  after  our  arrival  and 
— we  have  never  cared  for  another  experience." 

The  two  other  matrons  and  their  husbands  laughed. 
They  knew  how  terrible  is  the  odor  of  the  great  fruit 
when  first  opened — and  also  how  easily  European 
palates  can  learn  to  delight  in  the  durion  taste. 

"  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  preliminary  aroma 
is  a  little  trying,"  conceded  the  slightly  disconcerted 
young  man:  "yet  people  who  would  think  it  grossly 
vulgar  to  partake  of  plain  onions  may  become  enthusi 
astic  durion-eaters.  There  are  several  such  at  the 
Rajah's  table  ;  and,  really,  you  know,  when  you 
come  to  try  those  positively  beautiful  ovals  of  creamy 
pulp,  in  their  five  satiny-white  sections,  they  do  com 
pensate  for  the  preceding  shock  to  the  nostrils." 

"And  these  very  durions  must  be  improved  by  cul 
tivation  before  they  are  fit  for  any  one's  taste,"  said 
Mr.  Yon  Camp,  reverting  to  his  hobby.  "  So  it  is  with 
the  Amboyna  bread-fruit.  Bake  it,  in  its  cultivated 
state,  and  it  eats  like  batter,  or  Yorkshire,  pudding ; 
but  in  its  wild  growth  the  seeds — about  as  large  as 
chestnuts — are  the  best  part  of  it.  I  've  heard  that  it 
is  the  same  with  the  nut-fruit  of  Brazil." 

Assuredly  the   doings    and  conversations  of   these 


202  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

excursionists  to  the  old  Malayan  fort  were  eccentric 
for  a  pic-nic  ;  yet,  in  being  characteristic  of  a  little 
band  of  educated  people  lingering  in  such  a  way  on 
the  shore  of  a  Borneon  river,  and  naturally  excited  to 
greatest  interest  by  things  belonging  or  relating  to  the 
unwonted  scenes  around  them,  they  did  not  affect  even 
the  projector  of  the  pastime  disappointingly.  If  few 
of  the  customary  sentimental  graces  of  pic-nicking  were 
practicable,  the  whole  tendency  of  the  innovation  was 
to  make  all  the  partakers  seem  and  act  like  members 
of  the  one  family,  drawn  more  intimately  together 
from  the  very  unwontedness  of  everything  about  the 
affair.  Hence  the  naval  officer  was  warranted  at  least 
in  a  general  filial  and  fraternal  assumption,  as  congenial 
to  his  inclinations  as  it  would  have  been  impracticable 
within  more  conventional  circumstances.  To  crown 
all  for  him,  the  bruised  condition  of  Cherubino  led  to 
the  placing  of  that  imperishable  lad  under  the  partic 
ular  care  of  Berner  for  the  homeward  voyage,  and  little 
Miss  Merton  had  the  inspiration  to  plead  successfully 
a  place  with  her  parents.  This  left  Miss  Effingham  to  the 
exclusive  oarsmanship  of  the  Lieutenant — what  he  had 
been  secretly  pondering  to  bring  about  all  the  afternoon. 

Thus  it  happened,  that  when  the  re-embarkation  took 
place,  not  only  were  youth  and  maiden  alone  in  the 
wherry  ;  but,  as,  by  a  little  adroit  management  on  the 
part  of  the  former,  Berner 's  canoe  was  started  first,  the 
wherry,  by  another  artless  touch  of  a  similar  policy, 
was  made  to  linger  until  the  last. 

"  Sha'n't  we  have  this  awning  down  now,  Miss  Effing- 
ham  ?"  queried  the  schemer,  in  a  tone  of  undisguised 
satisfaction,  as  he  suddenly  rested  on  his  oars  in  the 
wake  of  the  parental  boat.  "  The  hills  keep  off  the 
sun,  you  see,  and  you  have  your  parasol.  We  can  then 
get  a  so  much  better  view  of  everything." 


THE  PIC-NIC  AT  THE  FORT.  203 

Abretta  had  a  shy  consciousness  of  there  being  some 
art  in  the  whole  present  arrangement,  and  looked  girl 
ishly  startled  at  the  cessation  of  movement  attending 
his  proposition. 

"Oh,  yes:  I  sha'n't  mind  it.  But  do,  please  be  quick, 
or  they  will  all  leave  us  behind,"  she  said,  uneasily. 

"We  can  overtake  them  whenever  we  please,"  was 
his  bland  answer,  as  he  proceeded  to  remove  their 
canopy  in  very  leisurely  style.  But  the  instinctive  per 
turbation  in  those  innocent  black  eyes  was  too  much  for 
his  pretense  of  audacity,  and,  upon  resuming  the  oars, 
he  humbled  himself  in  frank  confession. 

"Don't  be  unhappy  because  I 've maneuvered  a  little 
for  one,  last  tete-a-tete,"  was  his  plaintive  appeal,  the 
while  he  made  no  more  exertion  than  was  necessary  to 
keep  the  boat  in  its  softly  rippling  course.  "  It  provokes 
me  to  think  that  I  hadn't  the  courage  to  say  at  once  to 
your  mother,  when  we  started  this  afternoon,  that  my 
true  purpose  in  the  whole  boating  arrangement  was  to 
have  you,  especially,  to  myself,  for  a  while.  There  can 
be  no  earthly  sense  in  all  this  cowardice  and  pretense 
over  an  absolutely  harmless  and  natural  impulse  of 
friendship  before  a  long  separation.  I  'm  honest  enough 
now,  at  any  rate,  to  tell  you  the  full  truth,  and  if  you 
can't  forgive  it,  why,  then,  so  much  the  worse  for 
me." 

They  were  face  to  face  ;  and,  as  the  young  man  leaned 
toward  her  from  the  thwart,  in  his  earnestness  ;  resting 
upon  his  oars  so  long  as  the  least  impetus  of  the  last 
mechanical,  noiseless  stroke  remained ;  she  drew  back 
closer  to  her  end  of  the  boat  and  cast  another  uneasy 
look  after  the  canoes. 

"  I  've  never  practiced  any  deception  with  my  mother, 
Mr.  Belmore,"  she  began,  with  ominous  dignity,  "and 
cannot  be  pleased  that  any  one  should  have  done  so. 


204  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

You  may  rest  assured,  too,  that  if,  in  her  judgment, 
there  were  any  good  reasons  why  we  should  not  be  left 
to  ourselves  for  a  short  time,  you  could  not  have  in 
vented  the  means  of  deceiving  her  into  assent." 

"  You  can't  tell  me  that  better  than  I  know  it  myself!" 
he  retorted,  penitently.  "  I  've  said  that  I  feel  shamefaced 
enough  over  the  way  1  've  plotted  for  what  I  never  could 
have  gained  if  you,  and  your  mother  and  father — both 
— did  not  regard  me  as  too  much  of  a  boy  to  be  minded ! 
And  I  'm  so  much  a  mere,  moon-struck  kind  of  tire 
some  youngster  to  you,  yourself,  Miss  Emngham,"  he 
continued  with  a  sudden,  resentful  pull  at  the  oars  again 
— "  I  'm  so  childish,  in  your  estimation,  that  you  have 
not  the  remotest  idea  why  I  should  have  any  dread  of 
anybody's  opposition  to  my  monopoly  of  you  for  a  half- 
hour's  parting  talk.  I  've  no  very  distinct  theory  of  my 
own  about  it,  so  far  as  that  goes  ;  but  this  I  know,  and 
confess — I  simply  could  not  go  away  from  Sarawak 
without  a  good-by  to  you  without  witnesses  ;  and  I  could 
not  resist  an  overwhelming,  unreasoning  impression 
that  I  must  use  artifice  to  get  you  into  my  boat  alone." 

If  the  speaker  had  possessed  any  clear  sense  of  what 
feeling  it  was  that  made  him  so  gratuitously  timid  and 
designing  in  the  first  place,  and  then  drove  him  into 
excuses  which  were  but  so  many  egregious  self-accusa 
tions,  he  could  not  have  thus  freely  revealed  the  unmis 
takable  workings  of  that  feeling  to  the  girl  by  whom  it 
had  been  inspired.  For,  in  very  truth,  both  of  these 
wholesome  and  fresh  young  natures  were  as  innocently 
ignorant  of  passion  as  the  morning  dew  is  of  the  midday 
thunder-shower.  They  only  knew  that  there  was  both 
a  pleasure  and  a  torment  in  their  being  together:  a 
pleasure  explaining  itself  easily  enough  by  an  infinity  of 
familiar  sensations,  but  a  torment  all  the  more  perturb- 
ingly  unintelligible  because  it  seemed  to  arise  chiefly 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  205 

from  a  perpetual  instinctive  eagerness  not  to  be  pleased ! 
As  the  association  had  gone  on,  in  the  exceptional  cir 
cumstances  of  common  sojourning  in  an  uncivilized 
foreign  country,  it  had  changed  phase,  gradually  and 
subtly,  from  the  placid  harmony  of  a  congenial  youthful 
companionship  to  an  obscurely  disquieted  nearer  attrac 
tion,  in  which  was  a  certain  irritable  repulsion  also. 
At  once  far  happier  than  before,  and,  for  the  first  time, 
vaguely  unhappy,  too,  in  each  other's  society,  the  in 
genuous  girl  and  the  not  much  more  sophisticated  youth 
became  mutually  fretting  and  bewildering  by  a  conti 
nual  jar  of  seeming  cross-purposes  in  this  second  stage 
of  their  friendship.  She  developed  an  alertness  of  oppo 
sition  as  foreign  to  her  past  manner  as  it  was  inexplicable 
to  herself  in  the  present,  and  he  took  up  a  habit  of  feel 
ing  dimly  injured  by  her  almost  every  word  and  look, 
and  thinking  that  he  must  practice  a  sort  of  craven 
stealthiness  in  his  every  manifestation  of  a  preference 
previously  exhibited  without  a  fear  to  everybody. 

It  must  be  added,  however,  that  in  becoming  ashamed 
— he  knew  not  at  all  why — to  show  others  than  Miss 
Effingham  that  he  was  particularly  fond  of  her  society, 
the  English  sailor  unwittingly  drew  nearer  to  a  knowl 
edge  of  the  true  feeling  growing  between  them  than 
Abretta  had  yet  come.  She  experienced  timidity  at 
his  approaches  only  from  seeing  that  he,  himself,  was 
beginning  to  show  something  like  fear  in  them.  Kot 
altogether  at  ease  in  the  case,  she  yet  could  not  under 
stand  why  she  should  feel  uneasy ;  nor,  particularly, 
why  a  companion  whom  her  family  and  friends  had 
never  shown  the  slightest  sign  of  opposing,  should  sud 
denly  adopt  an  equivocation  of  manner  as  though  both 
he  and  she  were  surrounded  by  inimical  characters. 

"  I  do  not  at  all  see,  Mr.  Belmore,"  she  said,  in  reply 
to  his  last  speech,  "  why  I,  or  anybody  else,  must  either 


206  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

regard  you  as  a  '  boy,'  or  object  to  your  exercise  of  the 
common  social  privileges  of  a  gentleman.  Everybody 
belonging  to  me  is  glad  to  know  that  you  are  so  sorry 
to  leave  us,  and  sorry  for  the  occasion  of  such  gladness. 
I  am  sure  no  one  would  dream  of  preventing  your  say?- 
ing  good-by  to  each  one  of  us  in  your  own  way  ;  and 
Mamma,  especially,  has  always  so  plainly  shown  her 
high  opinion  of  you,  that  it  seems  to  me  ungenerous  in 
us  to  appear  to  be  evading  her  in  any  way. — No,  I  am 
not  offended.  Why  should  I  be  ?  You  say  you  really 
do  not  understand  yourself,  and  I  am  sure  I  do  not  un 
derstand  you. — But  please  do  not  stop  rowing  ;  we  can 
talk  as  well  after  we  get  home." 

Palpable  anger  shone  in  Belmore's  face,  and  he  sav 
agely  tugged  at  his  oars  for  several  rushing  strokes,  as 
though  disposed  to  take  the  lady  severely  at  her  word. 
But  this  was  only  the  exasperated  impulse  of  a  moment, 
and  then  he  was  leaving  the  boat  to  take  care  of  itself 
again. 

"  My  farewell  to  you,  Miss  Effingham,  must  be  spoken 
before  we  leave  this  boat,"  he  said,  with  dictatorial 
sharpness.  "Yesterday  we  laughed  bravely  at  the 
humorous  idea  of  my  coming  to  grief  in  the  Bruni 
cannonade  ;  but,  for  all  that,  I  should  not  like  my 
friends  to  take  my  going  into  a  battle  as  lightly  as 
though  I  had  gone  to  a  ball.  Now  here  is  the  whole 
secret  of  my  scheming  to  have  you  to  myself  for  a  few 
moments.  I  want  to  ask  of  you  a  great  favor.— Oh, 
you  needn't  look  so  troubled  again  ;  it  is  quite  harm 
less,  even  if  you  are  pleased  to  refuse  it. — Your  hair  is 
gathered  in  a  ribbon.  "Will  you  give  me  that  ribbon  as 
a  keepsake,  and  give  it  to  me  now  ?" 

In  the  alternating  glow  and  pallor  of  Abretta's  coun 
tenance  at  this  unexpected  request,  so  almost  imper 
iously  addressed  to  her,  there  was  at  first  the  nutter  of 


THE  PIC-NIC  AT  THE  FORT.  207 

an  impulse  of  maidenly  alarm.  Her  eyes  fell  as  much 
under  his  changed  tone  as  under  the  unaccustomed 
spirit  of  his  searching  gaze.  Then,  with  character 
istically  quick  recovery  of  natural  composure,  she 
quietly  unloosed  the  ribbon  from  her  lustrous  fall  of 
jet-black  locks,  and,  meeting  the  young  man's  look 
with  one  unshrinking  and  frankly  kind,  handed  him 
the  simple  keepsake  without  a  word. 

As  unaffectedly  and  bravely  he  pressed  her  hand 
before  releasing  it.  This  was  their  real  good-by,  and 
both  felt  it  too  genuinely  for  any  less  generous  self- 
consciousness.  The  sailor  folded  the  ribbon  deliber 
ately  and  placed  it  in  his  breast ;  he  drew  the  oars 
through  the  wrater  slowly,  and  his  features  betrayed  no 
sign  of  unusual  emotion  ;  but  when,  at  last,  he  spoke 
again,  there  was  a  faint  tremor  in  the  lowered  tone  : 

"  I  thank  you  more  than  I  can  say." 

"And  now  you  will  row  a  little  faster  ?"  she  insinu 
ated,  though  ever  so  much  more  gently  than  before. 

"Yes;  I  could  part  from  you  now  without  another 
word !" 

So  the  wherry  moved  on  more  steadily,  though  not 
with  a  swiftness  or  sound  to  offend  the  majestic  silent 
solitariness  of  the  shadowy  vale  of  water.  It  made  a 
strange  little  floating  picture  in  that  Titanic  frame  of 
mountains  lessening  downward  all  around,  to  inner  rims 
of  jungle-netted  shore,  wherefrom  mighty  arabesques 
of  interlocking  roots  reached  deep  into  the  darkling 
tide.  Abretta,  grave  and  thoughtful,  leaned  daintily 
from  the  stern-sheets  to  trail  one  white  finger-tip  idly 
in  the  mystic  stream,  as  unwitting  of  the  occupation  as 
of  the  opened  parasol  fallen  to  her  opposite  side.  The 
oarsman,  swaying  as  lightly  as  slowly  to  the  short, 
smooth  curve  and  dip  of  the  oars,  projected  a  shade, 
coming  and  going,  at  his  companion's  feet. 


208  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  This  being  in  Borneo  seems  all  like  a  dream  to  me," 
were  the  girl's  next  words  ;  "  I  cannot  yet  make  it  real 
to  myself." 

"  It  will  be  only  too  much  a  lost  reality  for  me,  after 
to-day,"  responded  Belmore. 

"  Every  scene  here,  and  every  sentiment  it  suggests, 
seem  to  me  different  enough  from  all  that  I  have  ever 
before  known,  to  belong  to  a  totally  different  world ; 
and  they  appear  particularly  incompatible  with  any 
thing  so  practical  and  passionate  as  war." 

"  So  they  might  to  me,  Miss  Effingham,  if  I  had  not 
often  seen  the  Cressy's  guns  thundering  shot  into 
scenes  as  little  warlike  in  their  apparent  sentiment." 

"  You  have  been  in  battle,  then  ?" 

"  If  you  can  call  it  a  battle.  My  ship  was  at  Com 
modore  Napier's  capture  of  Acre,  near  the  close  of  the 
Syrian  war,  five  years  ago.  I  'm  not  very  proud  of 
that  war,  as  an  Englishman,  although  I  was  only  a 
boyish  middy  then." 

"It  was  one  of  the  'Eastern  Question'  troubles, 
wasn't  it  ?" 

"  That  same  old  bother.  Mehemet  Ali,  the  most  en 
lightened  Egyptian  since  the  Pharaohs,  was  to  be  driven 
out  of  Syria,  and  his  magnificent  soldier,  Ibrahim 
pacha,  overwhelmed,  because  the  cowardly  Turks,  with 
three  times  as  many  troops  and  ships,  could  not  take 
care  of  their  own  province.  So,  my  country,  and  Aus 
tria  and  Prussia,  must  needs  combine  to  restore  the 
'  balance  of  power. '  As  it  had  been  before,  at  Lebanon, 
and  Sidon  and  Beyrout,  so  it  was  at  Acre.  There  were 
the  English  and  Austrian  ships,  marshaled  abreast  of 
the  old  gray  walls  by  the  blue  burgee  of  our  uncouth 
but  brave  old  Commodore,  raining  shot  and  shell  on 
mosque  and  minaret  for  the  sake  of  a  parcel  of  infidel 
dogs  whom  the  great  Ibrahim  had  driven  before  him, 


THE  PIC-NIG  AT  THE  FORT.  209 

time  and  again,  like  sheep.  No,  I  'm  not  at  all  proud 
of  having  been  in  such  a  war  as  that,  Miss  Effingham  ! 
If  only  the  French  had  taken  part  on  the  other  side,  as 
we  thought  and  hoped  they  would,  we  should  have  felt 
some  credit  in  our  work.  As  it  was,  the  business  was 
like  firing  into  some  venerable  church  !  We  could  see 
Mount  Carmel  in  the  distance,  and  the  monks  there 
must  have  heard  our  sacrilegious  guns." 

"  Such  a  wrar,  in  such  a  cause,  affects  the  imagination 
like  a  profanation  of  the  Bible,"  said  Abretta,  stirred 
by  the  names  of  holy  places. 

"Even  more  than  you'd  think,"  rejoined  Belmore  ; 
u  for  Mehemet  Ali  has  some  of  the  highest  Christian 
qualities,  if  he  is  a  Mahometan.  Think  of  civilized 
powers  fighting  for  the  Turk  against  a  ruler  who  has 
given  to  humane  science  the  beneficent  Medical  School 
and  Hospital  at  Cairo,  and  made  the  famous  French 
superintendent  of  them,  Dr.  Clot,  a  Bey,  without  ask 
ing  him  to  change  his  religion  !" 

"  Is  he  the  celebrated  Clot  Bey,  then  ?" 

"No  other.  The  only  Christian,  too,  ever  made  a 
Bey,  without  change  of  creed." 

"  Was  it  in  Syria  you  had  the  fever  ?"  asked  Abretta. 

The  question  was  only  innocently  a  suggestion  from 
the  mention  of  the  illustrious  Plague  curer  of  the  East, 
but  the  Lieutenant  had  a  perpetual  guilty  suspicion 
that  his  American  friends  were  skeptical  about  his 
invalid  experiences. 

"Tripoli  was  my  sick-bay,"  returned  he,  with  an  un 
easy  laugh ;  "  though  it  seems  so  hard  for  people  to  be 
lieve  either  in  that,  or  in  the  sunstroke  giving  me  my 
present  holiday.  I  only  hope  that  none  of  you  will 
feel  conscience-stricken  if  anything  happens  to  me  at 
Bruni." 

"  Oh,  do  not  joke  about  that  again !"  exclaimed  his 


210  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

hearer,  with  an  earnestness  of  look  and  emphasis  ex 
pressing  much  more  than  her  words — indeed  far  more 
than  she  was  conscious  of  betraying. 

The  eloquently  grateful  flash  of  the  young  sailor's 
blue  eyes  made  her  aware  of  his  quick  appreciation, 
and  called  a  charming  color  once  again  to  cheeks  on 
which  rose  and  lily  had  else  remained  more  equally 
matched. 

Little  farther  was  said  while  the  wherry  drew  near 
to  Kuchin  ;  prahus  and  smaller  craft  now  showing  here 
and  there  around  them,  and  human  figures  appearing 
occasionally  on  the  banks.  They  were  re-entering  the 
world  of  unrhythmical  prose,  and  the  poetic  spell  of 
harmonious  isolation  was  as  a  soft,  sweet  song  checked 
at  the  earliest  breath  of  dissonance. 

But  a  graciously  beautifying  influence  yet  remained 
from  what  was  lost  for  all  that  came  after,  and  the  two 
young  voyagers  felt  no  painful  jar  in  emerging  from  one 
into  the  other.  It  was  a  fairer  common  world  to  look 
upon  than  ever,  if  only  because  the  bolder  revisitant 
brought  back  to  it  the  ribbon  from  a  queen's  hair,  and 
the  gentler  a  tremulous  instinctive  thrill  as  from  having 
subtly  neared  a  king.  The  light  beating  hazily  down 
the  engirding  Borneon  peaks  and  cliffs,  from  the  last 
glittering  crown  thrown  off  by  a  sinking  sun  around 
their  palm-fringed  temples  ;  ship,  and  junk,  and  prahu 
— tidal  rock  and  wave-enamored  stooping  tree — held 
motionless  by  their  own  watery  phantoms  in  it ;  even 
savage  town  and  ruder  jungled  shore  softening  to  grace 
ful  undulation  and  benign  accord  under  the  beadless 
ripened  wine  of  air — such  was  the  glory  of  the  world 
to  eyes  learning  a  new  vision. 

Their  good-by  had  been  spoken  without  words.  Only 
the  faint  ripple  of  the  boat  sounded  in  the  last  brief 
reach  between  the  anchorage  of  the  waiting  ship-of-war 


WHAT  HAPPENED  IN  AUGUST.  211 

and  the  destination  where  the  sailor  must  turn  back 
from  dove-eyed  Peace  to  put  on  the  grim  harness  of 
battle.  With  grudging  slowness  he  swept  and  dipped 
the  yet  too  hastening  oars,  his  hungry  gaze  perfecting 
the  last  picture  he  wished  to  bear  away  with  him — a 
figure  of  exquisite  youthful  womanly  loveliness,  with 
face  half-averted  and  rested  upon  uplifted  hand,  and 
eyes  downcast  in  guileless  maiden  re  very — her  shadow 
coming  after  her  over  the  passing  water,  like  a  reflective 
silence  following  a  beautiful  thought. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

WHAT  HAPPENED  IN  AUGUST. 

THE  Eajah  of  Sarawak  unquestionably  possessed  ex 
perience  and  abilities  to  become  a  military  character  of 
no  mean  order,  had  his  moral  genius  involved  the  least 
ambition  for  such  an  attainment.  What  Macaulay, 
with  true  sedentary  flavor,  denominates  ' '  the  vulgar 
courage  of  the  common  soldier,"  was  his  in  a  conspicu 
ous  degree  ;  and  on  every  occasion  when  war  had  no 
practicable  alternative  for  him  in  Borneo  he  proved  in 
vincible  as  a  commander.  It  was,  then,  no  constitu 
tionally  effeminate  shrinking  from  the  fierce  arbitrament 
of  the  sword  that  restrained  him  from  investing  the 
whole  romance  of  his  Oriental  career  with  the  heroic 
glitter  of  armed  conquest.  A  more  manly  exemplar  of 
his  race ;  a  braver,  higher-minded,  loftier-spirited 
Anglo-Saxon ;  never  bore  the  banner  of  civilization  to 
the  walls  of  hostile  barbarism. 

Had  he  chosen  to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity 
when  Muda  Hassim,  vizier  and  chief  provincial  gover- 


212  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

nor  of  the  Sultan  of  Borneo  proper,  gladly  resigned  to 
him  the  supreme  command  against  a  rebellion  that  the 
whole  sultanate  was  powerless  to  subdue,  he  might 
easily  have  established  a  militant  dictatorship  of  the 
island,  equivalent  to  that  of  the  Dutch  in  Java.  Later, 
the  seditious  jealousy  of  Makota  offered  him  yet  readier 
means  of  turning  Borneo  into  a  second  Hindostan,  with 
himself  to  preside  over  another  merciless  and  rapacious 
East  India  Company. 

But  the  first  Englishman  to  sail  up  the  pirate-haunted 
Sarawak,  and  that,  too,  with  no  more  imposing  pomp 
of  outward  circumstance  than  his  own  private  yacht, 
contemned  the  thought  of  grasping  as  a  conqueror  the 
vast,  dim  region  whose  simple-hearted  children  had  so 
early  hailed  and  implicitly  trusted  him  as  their  Great 
one,  their  Tuan  Besar.  The  spirit  he  wished  to  emu 
late  was  that  in  which  Sir  Stamford  Raffles  sought  to 
regenerate  the  down-trodden  Javanese,  thirty  years 
before,  during  the  temporary  British  occupation  of 
Batavia.  He  could  draw  the  sword  to  put  down  wast 
ing  and  destroying  civil  war,  and  keep  it  unsheathed  in 
the  cause  of  common  humanity  while  his  native  land 
lent  him  one  corvette  and  a  gunboat  to  chastise  the  piti 
less  pirates  and  slavers  of  a  pestilent  coast ;  but  after 
that  he  wished  to  leave  it  wholly  in  the  hands  of  his 
country. 

From  her  he  desired  personal  countenance  and  aid 
only  so  far  as  they  would  make  him  stronger,  without 
military  conquest,  to  awe  an  oligarchy  of  Malay  op 
pressors  into  some  respect  for  Christian  justice,  and 
raise  thousands  —  ultimately  millions  —  of  the  true 
owners  of  the  soil,  from  slavery  to  freedom.  To  this 
end  he  advocated  a  British  occupation  of  the  little 
island  of  Labuan,  off  the  coast  not  far  north  of  the 
mouth  of  Borneo  river,  whence  piracy  and  slaving 


WHAT  HAPPENED  IN  AUGUST.  213 

could,  alike,  be  held  in  check,  and  the  legitimate 
commercial  opportunities  of  the  situation  controlled. 

With  this  motive  he  accepted  an  appointment  as 
English  Agent  to  the  court  of  Bruni,  to  negotiate 
and  maintain  a  treaty,  securing  English  sailors  from 
imprisonment  and  enslavement  by  treacherous  Borneon 
wreckers.  And,  in  the  highest  sentiment  of  unselfish 
ness,  he  was  even  willing  to  relinquish  his  Kajahship 
itself  to  the  Queen's  government,  and  be  himself  a 
mere  lieutenant,  if  thereby  that  government  could  be 
the  more  effectually  persuaded  to  help,  for  once,  in 
gathering  a  land  to  Gospel-light  without  an  established 
ministry  of  cannon. 

A  rehearsal  of  these  historical  facts  is  requisite  for  a 
just  understanding  of  the  temper  in  which  Eajah 
Brooke  found  himself  once  more  upon  the  deck  of  a 
British  ship  of  war,  in  August,  1845,  to  approve  acts  of 
sovereign  war  as  the  only  means  of  compelling  Ma 
hometan  Borneo  to  respect  the  rights  of  mankind.  All 
forms  of  expostulation  had  been  unavailing  to  deliver 
two  of  the  seamen  of  a  wrecked  merchantman  from 
the  slave-pen  of  the  Pangeran  Usop  ;  for  the  imbecile 
Sultan  bewailed  to  the  English  Agent,  and  Kear- Ad 
miral,  and  his  own  bandhara,  Muda  Hassim,  that  he 
had  no  power  over  that  audacious  prince  ;  and  the  lat 
ter  responded  to  the  British  demand  by  retiring  to  his 
combined  home  and  fortress  on  the  hill  above  the  city, 
and  pointing  his  guns  at  the  squadron  in  the  river. 

Sir  Thomas  Cochrane's  whole  fleet  was  before  Bruni ; 
the  Vixen,  abreast  of  the  recalcitrant  pangeran's  cita 
del  ;  then  the  Agincourt,  the  Pluto,  the  Nemesis,  the 
Wolverine,  the  Driver,  and  others.  For  the  first  time 
in  history  Pulo  Kalamantan  beheld  within  her  coast 
line  a  really  formidable  demonstration — not  by  the  East 
India  Company,  but— by  the  nation  whose  relentless 


214  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

power  had  made  a  trading  corporation  invincible  over 
the  millions  of  Hindostan.  Town  and  palace  both 
looked  covertly  forth  upon  the  ominous  naval  pageant 
with  a  dismay  too  fearful  for  any  of  the  popular  con 
gregation  in  the  public  places,  or  on  the  shore,  that 
would  have  been  natural  in  a  civilized  port  thus  visited. 
Since  the  arrival  of  the  strangers  even  the  floating 
market  had  disappeared.  So  unwonted,  indeed,  was 
the  aspect  of  depopulation  in  Bruni  when  the  ships 
took  their  positions,  that  suspicions  of  treachery  were 
rife  in  the  squadron  ;  and  when,  during  the  night  before 
the  ultimatum  of  Usop,  the  marine  officer  of  the  Vixen, 

Mr.  K ,  cried  out  in  a  nightmare,  the  whole  line  of 

vessels  was  thrown  into  a  panic,  under  an  impression 
that  the  Malays  were  characteristically  coming  on  in 
the  darkness. 

If  any  two  Englishmen  of  contemporaneous  fame 
should  have  been  qualified  by  uncommonness  of  respec 
tive  public  careers  to  sympathize  with  each  other,  they 
were  Oochrane  and  Brooke  :  for  if  the  latter  had  been 
able  to  enlist  his  country's  influence  and  aid  only  after 
much  futile  appeal,  the  former  knew  the  bitterness  of 
having  been,  for  a  time,  actually  driven  into  resentful 
exile  ;  and  restored,  at  last,  not  over-graciously. 

And  the  Eajah  and  the  Kear- Admiral  did  understand 
each  other  well.  On  the  August  afternoon  now  reached 
by  our  story  they  stood  together  on  the  poop-deck  of 
the  leading  man-of-war,  anxiously  watching  the  forti 
fied  house  on  the  hill ;  their  only  immediate  companion 
a  very  handsome  young  Malay  prince  in  gold-laced  tur 
ban  and  crimson  velvet  jacket,  blue  silk  sarong  and 
Turkish  trousers  and  boots — the  Pangeran  Budrudeen. 

Usop's  final  answer  was  to  be  given  at  two  o'clock. 
That  hour  was  now  distant  only  a  few  minutes,  and  the 
guns  of  the  British  ships  were  all  loaded  and  aimed  in 


THE    ADMIRAL,  THE   RAJAH,  ANT)    THE   HANDSOME  YOUNG   MALAY 
PHINCE  STOOD  TOGETHER  ON  THE  QUARTER-DECK. — p.  21%. 


WHAT  HAPPENED  IN  A  TIG  UST.  215 

readiness  for  any  event.  The  sun-bronzed  Admiral,  in 
full  naval  uniform,  and  the  Rajah,  in  sun-helmet,  sword- 
belted  blue  blouse,  and  military  boots  over  his  blue 
trousers,  kept  their  glasses  upon  the  house,  over  the 
stockade  and  within  the  long  veranda  of  which  the  red 
jackets  and  feathered  turbans  of  a  host  of  Kadien  Dyaks 
could  be  seen. 

"The  fool  is  bent  upon  his  own  destruction,  I  be 
lieve,"  said  Brooke,  at  last,  lowering  his  glass  with 
something  like  a  sigh.  "It  is  unmistakable  that  he 
means  fight." 

"  For  my  own  part,  I  have  never  questioned  that 
issue  since  our  last  visit  to  the  palace,"  assented  his 
English  companion.  "The  black  fellow  means  fight 
and  nothing  else,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying, 
that  the  sooner  it  begins  the  better  I  shall  be  suited." 

"  Usop  is  not  alone  in  this  folly,  I  am  sure,"  rejoined 
the  Rajah.  "  It  must  be  as  you  say,  my  good  friend," 
he  added,  turning  to  the  young  Malay  and  speaking  in 
his  tongue  :  "  this  is  Makota's  doing,  and  means  more 
than  we  see  here." 

"Makota,  the  Serpent!"  exclaimed  Budrudeen, 
fiercely  emphasizing  a  name  popularly  bestowed  upon 
that  personage.  "  He  is  the  prompter  of  Usop  in  this  ; 
and  it  is  his  treachery,  too,  that  has  led  Shereef  House 
man,  of  Malludu,  to  defy  the  Sultan  and  yourself  once 
more.  What  cares  the  traitor  for  treaties  !  He  hates 
you  and  your  country,  Rajah  ;  he  hates  my  brother, 
Muda  Hassim,  and  myself,  because  you  are  our  friend  ; 
and  the  war  he  dares  not  undertake,  himself,  against 
us,  he  persuades  others  to  wage." 

"He  is  the  rascal,  too,"  put  in  the  Admiral,  in  the 
same  language,  "  whom  you,  Rajah,  and  Keppel,  let  slip 
through  your  fingers  when  he  was  your  prisoner." 

"Would  you  have  had  me  hold  him  as  a  slave,  Sir 


216  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Thomas?  His  execution  would  have  been  my  only 
alternative,  in  Borneo." 

"  "War  is  war,"  insisted  the  veteran ;  "  and  when  your 
enemy  is  a  traitor  to  his  own  sovereign,  as  well  as  to 
yourself,  he  takes  his  life  in  his  hands  if  he  fights 
against  you." 

"  The  Sultan  would  not  have  spared  Makota,"  said 
Budrudeen. 

"But  he  was  not  avowedly  acting  against  the  Sultan. 
It  was  against  myself — the  foreigner — he  professed  to 
take  part,"  argued  the  Rajah,  frankly.  "He  said  to 
his  followers  :  '  Look  at  Hindostan  and  Java  ;  they  will 
show  you  what  the  European  sirani  mean  by  their 
friendship  for  Asiatic  princes.  This  Tuan  Brooke  has 
deceived  Muda  Hassim,  and  even  our  Lord  who  Rules 
• — the  Sultan — into  giving  him  and  his  Europeans  a  foot 
hold  in  Pulo  Kalamantan ;  but  I — Makota  the  Learned — 
am  wise  enough  to  see  that  this  English  rajahship 
means  a  second  Java  for  us.  This  is  why  I  must  seem 
to  be  an  enemy  even  of  the  Sultan  himself,  for  the  sake 
of  our  country.'  Such  is  the  man's  sophistry,  and  I 
know  well  that  he  only  assumes  it  as  a  cloak  for  nefari 
ous,  selfish  conspiracy ;  but  how  am  I  to  prove  this  ? 
Upon  its  face,  the  pretense  has  only  too  much  justifica 
tion  in  the  history  of  European  progress  in  the  East 
Indies  ;  and,  so  long  as  I  cannot,  by  positive  evidence 
convict  Makota  of  being  the  mere  unscrupulous  bandit 
he  certainly  is,  how  can  I  treat  him  as  a  criminal  con 
sistently  with  the  spirit  of  peaceful  Christian  friendship 
for  his  unhappy  country  that  I  have  so  persistently 
asserted  since  my  first  landing  at  Kuchin  ?" 

Curiously  enough,  this  magnanimous  speech  found 
far  deeper  appreciation  with  the  Malay  than  with  the 
speaker's  brother  Englishman.  Budrudeen's  keen  black 
eyes  softened  to  a  positively  affectionate  look  of  admira- 


WHAT  HAPPENED  IN  AUGUST.  217 

tiou,  while  the  Rear- Admiral's  whole  manner  exhibited 
impatience. 

"I  know  of  but  one  practical  way  of  dealing  with 
mad  dogs,"  said  the  sailor,  "  however  their  rabies  may 
have  been  originally  produced.  For  your  own  com 
monest  safety  you  must  kill  as  many  of  them  as  possi 
ble,  and  particularly  the  one  whose  bite  carries  the 
most  infection  amongst  the  others.  What  am  I  here  for, 
now,  with  my  ships,  but  to  enable  you  to  punish  the 
dogs  bitten  by  this  same  mad  Makota  ?" 

"  But  not  to  revenge  any  private  wrongs,  of  the  Rajah 
of  Sarawak,"  retorted  the  Rajah,  quickly.  "With 
you,  Admiral,  as  with  gallant  Keppel,  I  am  not  a  Rajah 
of  Borneo — only  an  English  citizen  ;  or,  in  the  present 
case,  only  an  agent  of  Great  Britain  :  serving  practically 
as  a  volunteer  against  pirates  whose  extirpation  is  the 
duty  of  all  Christendom.  In  no  grievance  of  my  own 
shall  I  ever  invoke  armed  aid  ;  when  it  comes  to  that 
my  career  in  Borneo  will  be  ended." 

"  Tuan  Besar  loves  Pulo  Kalamantan  so  well,  that 
he  cannot  hate  even  Usop  and  Makota,"  said  the 
swarthy  young  prince,  whose  generous  heart — barba 
rian,  that  he  was — could  understand  the  high  sentiment 
of  the  Christian  Rajah. 

"  Then,  small  comfort  you  will  get  from  the  present 
ministry  at  home,  Mr.  Brooke,"  answered  Cochrane. 
"I  understand  your  principles  thoroughly,  and  honor 
them  ;  but  the  tactics  of '  John  Company,'  and  of  the 
Dutch  at  Batavia,  are  the  only  ones  valued  in  Europe 
when  the  East  Indies  are  in  question.  You  and  I  have 
common  reason  to  know  how  much  an  Englishman  in 
public  place  amounts  to  with  his  Government,  when 
he  is  in  any  trouble  that  gunpowder  is  not  called  to 
remove." 

At  this  moment  the  smoke  and  flash  of  a  gun  from 


218  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Usop's  lofty  stockade  brought  the  colloquy  to  an  abrupt 
conclusion,  and  a  six-pound  ball,  passing  between  the 
topmasts  of  the  Vixen,  announced  that  the  intrenched 
rebel  Pangeran  accepted  the  dread  issue  of  arms.  As, 
however,  no  second  roar  of  defiance  immediately  fol 
lowed,  Sir  Thomas  hesitated  before  giving  decisive 
orders  to  his  first  lieutenant,  who  had  approached  him 
on  the  quarter-deck.  The  drums  had  beaten  to  quar 
ters,  the  men  were  at  their  guns,  all  was  ready  to 
signal  the  remainder  of  the  squadron  as  needed  ;  and, 
while  the  two  chieftains  on  the  poop  kept  their  glasses 
leveled  at  the  headquarters  of  the  enemy,  Budrudeen 
hastily  descended  to  a  war-prahu  filled  with  the  Sul 
tan's  body-guard,  that  had  put  off  from  the  palace 
wharf  at  the  ominous  report  of  the  cannon. 

"Is  that  Malay  to  be  wholly  trusted?"  asked  the 
Admiral,  with  a  glance  at  the  retiring  prahu. 

"  Budrudeen  is  true  as  steel,"  was  the  terse  response. 

Under  the  searching  glare  of  a  mid-day  sun,  Bruni 
and  her  barbaric  surroundings  had  already  an  aspect  of 
savage  desolation  in  the  silent  pause  between  the  first, 
uncertain  note  of  hostility  and  the  inevitably  coming 
storm.  Usually  at  this  hour  of  the  day  all  the  intricate 
waterways  of  the  tide-meshed  pauper  Venice  were  alive 
with  boats  ;  on  the  river-front  swarmed  the  craft  of  the 
noisy,  floating  market ;  prahus  of  trade  and  war  popu 
lated  the  broad  stretch  of  the  harbor,  and  human 
shapes,  peaceful  or  warlike,  moved  between  the  huge 
buildings  of  State  on  the  surrounding  hillsides.  Now 
the  whole  minor  boating  life  had  flown  to  hasty  covert 
in  the  jungle  of  the  banks  above  the  town  ;  the  prahus 
had  withdrawn  beyond  the  ruined  stone  fort ;  pile-lifted 
hovel  and  dingy  white  palace,  alike,  gave  signs  of 
habitation  only  by  some  furtive,  fantastic  apparition 
peering  through  roof-flap,  or  draped  window ;  and  the 


WHA  T  HAPPENED  IN  A  UG  UST.  219 

sole  human  potency  of  the  scene  appeared  to  have 
concentrated  finally  in  the  gun-bristling  eyrie  of  the 
rebellious  prince,  and  the  stately  line  of  tall  British 
men-of-war  restraining  their  thunder  for  the  sound  of 
another  shot. 

"Are  we  to  expect  a  flag  of  truce,  or  a  broadside, 
next  ?"  muttered  the  Admiral. 

"  I  have  no  hope  of  anything  peaceful  now,"  replied 
the  Rajah,  closing  his  glass;  "otherwise  Budrudeen, 
or  Muda  Hassim,  would  signal  us  from  the  palace. 
That  first  gun  was  a  characteristic  bit  of  bravado.  We 
shall  not  have  to  wait  long  for  the  others." 

After  casting  one  more  look  of  thoughtful  scrutiny 
over  the  suggestive  prospect,  the  last  speaker  descended 
slowly  to  the  main  deck,  his  aspect  of  troubled  abstrac 
tion  securing  him  from  address  by  any  of  the  various 
officers  at  their  posts  until  he  had  reached  the  entrance 
to  the  gun-room.  A  young  man,  in  uniform,  emerging 
from  thence,  saluted  him  as  they  met,  and  his  brow 
cleared  at  the  bright,  familiar  glance  encountering  his 
own. 

"Is  this  work  too  slow  for  you,  Mr.  Belmore  ?"  in 
quired  the  Kajah,  laying  a  hand  kindly  on  the  volun 
teer's  shoulder. 

"  I  have  certainly  known  shore-batteries  to  be  livelier 
than  this  one,  sir,  even  in  the  East,"  responded  Bel- 
more.  Then  added,  with  increased  animation  :  "  But 
we  may  have  some  music  when  it  comes  to  landing,  I 
take  it,  sir.  These  Dyaks,  they  tell  me,  can  make  a 
fight  of  it  sometimes,  when  you  have  to  go  at  them  up 
hill." 

"  The  poor,  deluded  creatures  are  but  sorry  foes  foi 
English  sailors.  However,  you  may  have  enough  fight 
ing,  my  young  friend,  before  we  return  to  Sarawak ; 
and  I  trust,  Mr.  Belmore,  that,  for  your  Uncle's  sake, 


220  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

if  not  for  your  own,  you  will  be  led  into  no  foolhardi- 
ness.  Bear  in  mind,  that  this  kind  Uncle  has  little  more 
than  yourself  to  fill  his  heart  in  this  world." 

"  And  I  love  him,  sir,  like  a  son." 

"  As  you  may  well  do,  for  he  has  a  father's  tenderest 
affection  for  you." 

Here  a  deafening  roar  burst  upon  their  ears,  accom 
panied  by  a  significant,  hurtling  flurry  of  the  air  in  the 
rigging  over  their  heads  ;  followed  instantly  by  shrill 
words  of  command  and  an  answering  prodigious  crash 
from  the  ports  of  their  own  vessel.  Battle  was  upon 
them  at  last ;  and,  waving  permission  for  the  eager 
lieutenant  to  repair  to  his  duty,  the  Kajah  returned  to 
the  companionship  of  the  Admiral. 

Then  ensued  the  anomalous  spectacle  of  a  frigate  and 
a  single  house  of  a  town  engaging  in  a  hot  cannonade  ; 
the  while  the  town  itself  and  the  imperial  government 
of  which  it  was  the  capital  were  supposably  in  sympa 
thy  with  the  besieging  force,  though  too  weak  to  take 
immediate  part  against  their  seditious  prince.  From 
the  guns  planted  on  the  stockade  of  the  hillside  seat- 
of-war,  and,  at  first,  even  from  the  field-pieces  on  the 
high  veranda,  a  fire  was  maintained  with  some  steadi 
ness  for  a  time  :  but,  in  the  usual  awkward  style  of  a 
savage  country,  the  whole  battery  had  an  elevation  of 
muzzles  impracticable  for  any  serious  effect  below  the 
yards  of  the  vessel  assailed,  and  its  iron  hail  was  the 
most  futile  of  defenses  against  the  British  gunnery. 

This  roaring  exchange,  reverberated  in  mighty  rolling 
cadences  by  the  background  of  sullen  mountains,  was 
not  much  more  than  leisurely  practice  for  the  blue 
jackets  of  the  Vixen.  Soon,  through  rifts  in  the  great 
veil  of  pungent  smoke,  several  breaches  could  be  dis 
cerned  in  the  stockade  ;  and,  finally,  dropping  off,  one 
by  one,  the  intractable  cannon  in  the  air  were  heard  no 


WHA  T  HAPPENED  IN  A  UG  VST.  221 

more.  Lessening  her  own  fire,  thereat,  to  an  occasional 
precautionary  shot,  the  frigate  signaled  her  nearer  con 
sorts  to  co-operate  for  a  land-assault,  and,  with  the 
celerity  of  civilized  discipline,  a  number  of  boats  were 
presently  pulling  to  the  shore  with  a  strong  detail  of 
marines  for  the  completion  of  the  afternoon's  work. 

The  passage  of  this  storming-party,  in  which  Lieuten 
ant  Belmore  held  a  subordinate  command,  was  through 
an  end  of  the  cowed  city,  to  the  foot  of  the  steep  ascent 
to  Usop's  house.  From  the  decks  of  the  squadron  ex 
cited  eyes  looked  after  the  boats  entering  the  network 
of  fishing-huts  and  Malay  dwellings,  while  now  and 
then  the  Vixen's  gun-deck  spoke  a  stern  warning  to 
the  barbarian  who  should  dare  to  meditate  an  ambush. 
But  the  battle  was  over.  Charging  up  the  difficult  ac 
clivity,  with  a  cheer,  the  followers  of  the  First  Lieuten 
ant  and  Belmore  found  no  heroic  foemen  to  oppose 
them.  Taking  advantage  of  the  smoke,  the  misguided 
Pangeran  had  retreated,  with  his  Kadiens  into  the  fur 
ther  mountain-range,  and  in  a  few  moments,  dumbly 
crouching  Bruni,  the  craven  Sultan's  secretly-watching 
court,  and  the  people  of  the  conquering  ships,  beheld  a 
pillar  of  fire  arising  from  the  doomed  stronghold  of  the 
fugitive  prince. 

Immediately  successive  events  on  the  scene  of  this 
summary  vengeance  for  a  disregarded  humane  Treaty 
require  but  general  mention  here.  The  Sultan's  barge 
came  out  to  the  squadron  with  Muda  Hassim,  Budru- 
deen,  and  the  high  officers  of  the  palace,  to  bear  the 
congratulations  of  the  lang  de  per  Tuam  to  Tuan 
Besar  and  the  invincible  sea-warriors  of  the  Great 
Queen.  Sampans  and  canoes  reappeared  so  swiftly  in 
the  waters  of  the  town  that  they  might  have  risen 
there  from  hiding  in  the  mud.  The  floating  market, 
animated  with  chattering  yellow  crones  and  nymphs 


222  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

in  the  gayest  of  plaited  conical  hats,  again  danced  on 
the  river,  and  sought  custom  from  the  foreign  ships. 
The  townspeople — Malays,  Dyaks  and  Chinamen — 
emerged  from  their  recent  terror-stricken  lurkings  into 
a  fantastic  holiday-celebration,  with  gongs  and  tom 
toms  ;  and  at  night  there  was  an  illumination  with 
Chinese  lanterns,  and  an  exhibition  of  the  "Mancha," 
or  native  sword-dance,  at  the  palace,  in  honor  of  the 
victory. 

Usop's  punishment,  however,  was  but  a  part  of  the 
mission  of  the  ships.  In  Malludu  Bay,  the  pirate- 
chief,  Shereef  Houseman,  had  forgotten  the  pretense 
of  reform  forced  upon  his  fears  by  the  signal  chastise 
ments  of  his  brother-shereefs,  Muller  and  Sahib,  on  the 
Sarebas  and  Sakarran  rivers,  and  now  boasted  of  his 
renewed  sanguinary  atrocities  upon  trading  prahus 
along  the  coast,  and  insolently  denounced  the  Kajah 
and  Sultan  as  "old  women."  To  bring  this  blatant 
villain  to  repentance  was  the  next  work  for  the  retribu 
tive  squadron  ;  and,  accordingly,  anchors  were  weighed 
to  the  good  old  naval  tune  of  "  Nancy  Dawson,"  and, 
raising  clouds  of  snowy  canvas,  the  British  guardians 
of  the  deep  moved  on  to  its  accomplishment,  under  a 
ragged  salute  of  honor  from  the  crazy  guns  of  the 
Sultan's  stockade  forts. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  August  ensued  the  battle  of 
Malludu,  in  which  Cochrane's  force  of  five  hundred  and 
fifty  blue-jackets  and  marines,  in  twenty-four  boats, 
destroyed  two  piratical  forts  and  a  fleet  of  "  bankongs," 
or  war-prahus,  and  totally  routed  a  thousand  of  the 
Shereef  s  Sea-Dyaks.  The  ships  could  approach  only 
near  enough  to  engage  the  land-batteries,  which  they 
soon  knocked  into  ruins  ;  but  up  the  gloomy,  palm- 
arched  reaches  of  water,  where  the  pirate  craft  lurked 
behind  "booms"  constructed  to  entangle  as  well  as 


WHA  T  HAPPENED  IN  A  UO  UST.  223 

obstruct  all  intruders,  the  pinnaces,  cutters  and  gigs  of 
the  squadron  had  to  make  their  way  in  more  equal 
contest.  Cutlassing  through  the  rattan  lashings  of 
whole  groves  prone  in  the  dark  stream,  and  through 
thickets  of  wiry  branch  and  thorny  leaf,  the  musketeers 
in  the  boats  advanced  but  slowly  under  showers  of 
poisoned  little  darts  from  Upas-dipped  *'  sumpitans," 
and  with  frequent  desperate  passages  at  arms  with  the 
half-clad  savage  spearsmen  of  rallying  prahus.  Never 
theless,  break  through  they  did,  without  casualties 
graver  than  flesh-wounds,  and  finally  landed  in  good 
order  on  the  edge  of  a  partly-cleared  jungle,  where  the 
Shereef  and  the  flower  of  his  army  were  rallying  for  a 
last  stand.  Lighted  by  the  blaze  of  a  score  of  burning 
pirate  boats  in  the  wreck  of  the  "boom,"  the  fighting- 
men  of  civilization  ;  torn  and  bleeding  as  some  of  them 
were  ;  gave  one  menacing  glance  at  the  swarm  of  wild, 
yelling  figures  in  the  shadowy  covert  before  them,  and 
then  plunged  forward  with  a  hoarse  hurrah. 

Rajah  Brooke  was  on  his  course  back  to  Bruni  before 
this  closing  onset  occurred  ;  a  messenger,  by  swift- 
flying  prahu,  from  Budrudeen,  having  apprised  him  of 
the  sudden  reappearance  of  Usop  and  his  band  on  one 
of  the  hills  overlooking  the  capital,  and  besought  him 
to  return  immediately  with  at  least  one  vessel.  Too 
politic  to  hesitate  about  complying  with  this  prayer  of 
the  noblest,  stanchest  Malayan  friend  he  had  found  in 
Borneo,  the  Christian  ruler  of  Sarawak,  assured  that 
the  victory  of  Malludu  Bay  was  gained,  returned  at 
once,  on  the  Driver,  to  the  newly  threatened  town. 

Justly  incensed  at  the  obdurate  fatuity  of  the  rebel 
Pangeran,  he  would  willingly  have  taken  part?  in  the 
conclusive  overthrow  of  that  enemy,  more  cruel  than 
the  storm,  to  shipwrecked  men.  But  this  was  not  to 
be.  Usop,  cunningly  suspicious  of  what  the  messenger- 


224  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

prahu  purported,  made  his  descent  before  the  foreign 
help  could  come,  and  gave  battle  to  gallant  Budrudeen 
and  three  hundred  loyal  Kadiens  of  his  own  Mahometan 
tribe  of  Dyaks,  amid  the  blackened  ruins  of  the  house 
once  his  castle.  It  was  a  fierce,  supreme  struggle  for 
the  princely  traitor,  and  success  for  him  would  have 
meant  the  downfall  of  the  reigning  sultanate  and  his 
own  seizure  of  the  musnud. 

In  vain,  however,  was  his  fury  against  a  brother- 
prince,  who,  as  history  records,  "fought  like  a  Euro 
pean."  At  the  end  of  an  hour  such  of  his  followers  as 
had  not  fallen  victims  to  the  "head-hunters"  were 
scattered  in  flight  once  more  among  the  palms  and 
jungle  of  the  mountains  ;  his  own  hairbreadth  escape 
to  the  coast  and  to  Kimanis,  and  subsequent  death  by 
the  krisses  of  betrayers  there,  become  the  legend  even 
now  heard  by  Borneon  travelers. 

Tidings  of  this  decisive  action  intercepted  the 
Driver  before  her  arrival,  and  she  came  up  to  the  city 
at  last,  not  far  in  advance  of  the  whole  squadron  front 
Malludu,  amid  the  tumultuous  rejoicings  of  a  populace 
intoxicated  with  victory,  and  a  river  on  which  every 
conceivable  form  of  native  craft  was  decked  with  end 
less  waving  symbols  of  barbarian  joy. 

The  Kajah  and  Budrudeen  met  on  the  Sultan's  barge, 
and  the  former,  taking  off  his  own  signet-ring,  placed  it 
upon  a  finger  of  the  latter. 

"Wear  that,  brave  Pangeran,"  said  the  Christian 
prince,  "in  token  of  your  fidelity  to  your  sovereign, 
your  good  faith  with  my  country,  and  your  friendship 
to  me." 

The  handsome  young  hero,  the  Bayard  of  native 
Borneon  history,  pressed  the  gift  to  his  forehead,  and 
bowed  his  turbaned  head  in  more  than  ceremonial 
form. 


WHAT  HAPPENED  IN  A  UG  UST.  225 

"  It  shall  never  leave  me,  Tuan  Besar,  until  I  send 
it  back  to  show  that  Budrudeen  has  died  for  you  !"  he 
exclaimed,  with  an  intensity  of  feeling  scarcely  more 
unlike  the  habits  of  his  dark  and  cynical  race  than  was 
his  every  historic  act. 

Bruni  heard  the  news  of  Shereef  Houseman's  destruc 
tion  with  an  access  of  delight ;  and  the  palace,  what 
ever  its  secret  diplomatic  sentiment  as  to  these 
succeeding  triumphs  in  the  field  by  Muda  Hassim's 
friends,  neglected  no  means  of  showing  courtly  honor 
to  the  Agent  and  sailors  of  England.  When  Cochrane's 
squadron  came  up,  at  nightfall,  it  found  illuminations 
and  festal  water-parties  prevailing  again,  and  the  prim 
itive  forts  saluted  once  more  with  hospitable  clamor. 

In  the  Sultan's  audience  -  chamber,  or  "surow," 
during  a  "Talambong,"  or  spear-dance,  where  naval 
uniforms  were  thick  among  the  strange  native  court- 
dresses,  the  Rajah  of  Sarawak  found  opportunity  to  ask 
of  one  of  the  captains  a  question  as  to  the  fatalities  at 
Malludu. 

"  What  noble  English  lives  has  this  last  victory  cost 
us?" 

"  One,  only,  that  I  know  of,  Rajah.  Many,  of  course, 
are  more  or  less  severely  wounded  ;  but  only  poor  Gib- 
bard,  of  the  Wolverine,  was  killed.  He  and  another 
young  dare-devil,  I  hear,  could  not  be  restrained  from 
rushing  on  ahead  of  the  line  in  the  jungle-fight,  and  the 
brave  fellow  was  cut  down  in  an  ambuscade." 

"Even  one  such  life  was  a  heavy  cost  for  us,  in  a  war 
with  such  an  enemy,"  said  the  Rajah,  sadly.  "But 
the  other — did  he  escape  ?" 

"  He  is  badly  wounded  ;  on  the  Vixen." 

"  Do  you  recall  his  name  ?" 

"He  was  a  volunteer  with  Sir  Thomas.  I  think  I 
heard  him  called  Belmore." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE. 

IT  is  probably  because  the  whole  visible  system  of 
vital  Change  has  underlying  it  the  inseparable  princi 
ple  of  Death,  that  the  human  imagination  seizes  so 
eagerly  upon  any  suggestion  of  unchangeableness  in 
Nature,  to  invest  it  at  once  with  a  grandeur  and  beati 
tude  far  surpassing  every  charm  of  things  familiarly 
mutable.  This  it  does  from  no  power  to  conceive  an 
absolute  immutability  of  existence  for  anything  earthly, 
but  by  a  wild  impulse  of  that  instinctive  recojl  from 
thought  of  mortal  dissolution  which  finds,  at  least,  a 
lulling  sophistry  for  the  fancy,  in  whatever  of  the  great 
world's  exceptional  aspects  make  less  obvious  to  mortal 
senses  the  inexorable  limitation  of  all  earthly  being. 
The  profoundest  sentiment  of  mankind  for  Ocean  and 
Mountain  is  stirred  by  the  seeming  exemption  of  those 
mighty  objects  from  Time's  obliteration  ;  the  grandest 
rivers  may  run  dry,  but  there  is  the  Sea  as  it  was  at  the 
Creation ;  earthquakes  may  rend  continents,  and  even 
swallow  hills,  but  the  peak  in  the  clouds  towers  yet  as 
in  the  immemorial  Beginning.  Thus,  in  a  manner,  the 
common  imagination  worships  the  deadliest  battle-field 
of  the  Tempest,  the  treacherous  temple  of  the  cruel 
Avalanche,  for  their  superficial  temporizing  with  its 
blind  hunger  for  whatsoever  seemeth  not  in  itself  to  be 
passing  away. 

So,  too,  the  idea  of  a  perpetual  verdure  for  wood  and 
field  fascinates  untrusted  fancy  like  a  possibility  of  all 
that  finite  reason  can  realize  of  unending  life.  Though 

the  actual  vovager  to  climates  without  either  Winter  or 
226 


A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHON8EE.  227 

Autumn,  may  describe  ever  so  literally  the  savage  deso- 
lateness  of  Nature  running  rank  with  the  fadeless  vege 
tation  untended  by  man,  the  average  reader  catches 
first  therefrom  the  impression  of  a  comparative  immor 
tality  for  objects  of  wordly  growth,  and  is  unconsciously 
influenced  by  its  subtle  charm  to  imagine  an  Eden  un- 
fated  by  an  Adam's  fall. 

The  tendency  to  this  instinctive  idealization  works 
strongly  in  a  civilized  man  at  his  earliest  experience  of 
a  forest  in  the  Tropics.  There,  at  last,  he  sees  the 
wooded  wilderness  primeval,  to  which  the  ages  have 
been  but  an  unbroken  summer,  and  all  mundane  history 
a  noiseless  gathering  of  life  unto  life.  Centuries,  com 
ing  and  going,  have  witnessed  only  vaster  complications 
of  that  illimitable  empowerment  of  every  massive  and 
slender,  graceful  and  fantastic  form  an  imperishable 
vitality  of  columned  brown  and  umbrageous  green  can 
take.  No  visible  death,  nor  illustrated  principle  of  it, 
is  there  ;  for  if  trunk,  or  bough,  or  prodigious  leaf,  has 
ever  fallen  from  weight  of  too  much  newly-crowding 
life,  or  from  the  energy  of  its  own  teeming  roots  to 
press  forth  fresher  heads,  or  even  by  the  hand  of  savage 
man — its  shape  was  quickly  lost  in  the  luxuriantly- 
springing  network  of  its  own  ever-bourgeoising  para 
sites.  Nature  is  there  without  her  wonted  symbol  of 
the  withering  leaf;  without  the  naked  branch  and 
snowy  shroud  of  winter ;  and  the  unaccustomed  human 
heart  gives  a  great  throb  at  the  suggestion. 

But  the  supernal  spell  is  only  for  a  moment ;  and 
then,  while  the  mind  struggles  vainly  to  combat  it, 
arises  a  sensation  that  is  not  fear,  nor  dislike,  nor 
troubled  admiration;  but  a  mixture  of  all.  As  the 
bristling  elf-locks  of  a  savage,  to  the  trained  silken 
tresses  of  a  Christian  maid  ;  as  the  dissonant  chaos  of 
a  brain  gone  mad,  to-  the  harmonious  beauty  of  a  re- 


228  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

fined  intellect ;  so  is  this  elfishly-entangled,  riotous  lux 
uriance  of  Nature  in  her  wilderness  of  endless  summer, 
to  that  gentler,  tenderly-humanized  aspect  of  herself  in 
which  her  orderly  bridal  glory  of  half  the  year  is  the 
lovelier  to  man  for  her  Autumnal  [fading  and  Wintry 
semblance  of  his  own  decline. 

A  feeling  of  perturbed  desolation  steals  over  the 
spectator  of  a  scene  of  neglected  life  that  seems  death 
less  because  its  God  has  left  it.  Nothing  in  all  its  chok 
ing  wealth  of  vernal  monstrosities  and  infinitudes  of  dim 
green  recesses  intimates  familiar  use  or  refuge  for  Man, 
save  as,  in  spirit  like  the  brute,  he  may  crouch  in  its 
harsh  jungle  to  strike  down  an  unwary  foe,  or,  in  yet 
grosser  brute-likeness,  disport,  a  hideous,  hairy  parody, 
amongst  the  twining  arches  of  the  darkening  leafy  dome. 

There  is,  distinctively,  an  effect  of  Unblessedness  in 
such  a  spectacle,  for  him  who  strives  in  vain  to  find  in  it 
some  sympathy  with  civilized  humanity  ;  and  this  was 
peculiarly  realized  by  Doctor  Hcdland,  while,  on  an 
afternoon  in  September,  he  stood  some  distance  within  a 
forest  near  the  Malay  village  of  Songi,  grasping  a  gun 
with  both  hands,  in  recovery  from  the  firing  position. 

Booted  and  bloused  for  the  jungle  ;  his  great  Panama 
hat  pushed  far  back,  and  his  countenance  wearing  an 
expression  of  mingled  perplexity  and  irritation ;  the 
naturalist  kept  his  gaze  yet  fixed  upon  a  point  in  the 
lofty  branches  of  some  gigantic  interlocking  wild  durion 
trees,  at  which,  scarcely  a  moment  before,  his  weapon 
had  been  leveled.  Near  him,  stooping  in  the  thicket, 
were  his  native  servant,  Kalong,  and  a  Sibnowan  Dyak 
in  the  bark  turban  and  "chawat,"  or  waist-cloth,  of 
his  class  ;  both  armed  with  spears  and  staring  intently 
upward,  like  their  master.  The  latter's  unexpected 
immobility  continuing,  Kalong  finally  looked  toward 
him,  and  returned  on  a  shrill  whisper : 


A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE.  229 

"  Orang-outan,  Tuan !" 

Hedland's  peculiar  gaze  dropped  to  the  man's  inquir 
ing  face  for  a  moment ;  then,  without  aim,  the  gun  was 
pointed  aloft  and  instantly  discharged.  After  a  brief 
interval  of  intense  silence  the  durion  leaves  above 
rattled  and  rustled,  as  from  the  slow  movement  of 
some  heavy  bird  ;  a  higher  branch  seemed  to  bend  into 
them,  and,  in  its  recoil,  brought  into  momentary  full 
view  a  huge,  hairy,  frightfully  man-like  shape,  hanging 
by  one  long  arm.  Though  the  movement  had  little 
appearance  of  haste,  so  smoothly  swift  was  it,  in  reality, 
that  only  a  glimpse  was  caught  of  the  broad,  dusky 
face,  long,  shaggy  locks,  and  yellowish-red  body,  before 
the  second  arm  had  extended  to  an  adjacent  bough  and 
the  sinister  figure  vanished  into  another  concealing 
height  of  dense  foliage. 

"The  mias  has  escaped,"  remarked  the  English 
man,  indifferently,  handing  his  piece  to  the  wondering 
servant.  "  You  may  carry  the  gun  back  to  the  house — 
you  and  that  other  man — and  await  me  there." 

Never  before  had  these  firm  believers  in  the  super 
natural  gifts  of  Pa  Jenna's  mighty  Tuan  witnessed  a 
failure  of  that  weapon  to  conquer  its  selected  prey,  and 
they  obeyed  the  sententious  command  with  a  mute 
exchange  of  surprised  looks. 

Left  to  himself,  the  missing  marksman  threw  one 
more  glance  toward  the  gloomy  altitude  where  his 
sardonic  game  had  so  deliberately  swung  from  cover  to 
cover,  and,  as  he  pulled  his  broad  hat  down  over  his 
contracted  brows,  gave  a  slight  stamp  upon  the  matted 
sod. 

"I  can  never  shoot  another  of  them  while  I  live  !"  he 
muttered,  almost  with  a  groan.  "Heaven  only  knows 
whether  they  are  brutes  or  men  !" 

The  aimless  firing  of  his  gun  had  not  so  much  as 


230  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

brought  down  one  twig  or  leaf  from  the  tenacious  per 
ennial  canopy  ;  no  cry,  or  nutter,  of  bird,  nor  ruffle  of 
beast  or  serpent,  had  followed  the  echoing  report.  In 
such  shadowy  density  of  growth  upon  growth,  branch 
lapping  branch,  and  thick  vines  by  the  thousands  of 
feet  binding  all  together  in  one  vast  trellis,  no  winged 
or  creeping  creature  of  that  Borneon  wild,  save  butter 
fly  and  beetle,  could  be  stirred  by  any  petty  human 
uproar  to  emerge  from  its  hiding,  between  the  morning 
and  evening  choruses  of  the  forest.  Only  the  grim 
"  man-of-the-wood  "  made  all  hours  his  own,  and  even 
his  startling  guttural  strivings  of  speech  were  not  heard 
at  noonday. 

With  elbows  braced  before  him,  the  moody  solitary 
of  science  strode  into  the  jungle  at  a  sharp  angle  to  the 
path  that  had  been  taken  by  his  attendants,  and  forced 
his  way  through  thickets  breast-high,  and  over  frag 
ments  of  fallen  rock  from  the  hills  beyond,  with  the 
confidence  and  directness  of  one  accustomed  to  the 
place.  No  long  experience  of  this  mode  of  travel,  how 
ever,  was  necessary  to  bring  him  out,  with  scarcely  an 
interval  of  lessened  shade,  into  the  full  sunlight  of  an 
opening  made  by  a  crystal  stream,  whose  either  bank 
sloped  far  enough  at  that  point  from  the  divided  forest 
to  break  a  luminous  gap  in  the  arch  of  palms.  This 
was  the  tortuous  little  Songi  river,  winding  its  stealthy 
way  toward  the  Sadong,  and  one  of  the  innumerable 
snake-like  links  between  one  deeper  stream  and  another, 
whereby  prahus,  coming  in  from  the  sea,  were  enabled 
to  reach  the  most  secluded  villages  of  the  woods.  Seat 
ing  himself  on  a  rock  deeply-cushioned  with  minutely- 
leaved  parasites,  Doctor  Hedland  drew  a  heavy  breath, 
and,  bending  his  chin  to  the  support  of  meeting  finger 
tips,  gave  way  to  sombre  revery. 

"  Unblessedness  "  was  the  only  name  he  could  give 


A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE.  231 

to  the  sensation  so  often  oppressing  him  in  these  latter 
days.  To  the  first  exhilaration  of  pride  in  an  assumed 
unparalleled  scientific  discovery,  had  succeeded  a  con 
fusion  of  mental  contradictions  and  moral  uncertainties 
disordering  a  whole  lifetime's  intellectual  balance.  He 
apprehended  that  his  spiritual,  as  well  as  reasoning, 
nature  had  lost  all  firm  poise.  The  education  of  uni 
versities,  and  travel,  and  years  of  comprehensive 
observation,  revolted  from  the  conviction  that  a  few 
months  in  these  Borneon  wildernesses  had  forced  upon 
him ;  yet,  despite  every  effort  to  be  stubbornly  skepti 
cal,  it  was  impressed  upon  his  reason,  beyond  hope  of 
evasion,  that  he  had  found  awful  living  disproof  of 
God's  creation  of  Man  in  His  own  Image  ! 

Was  he  not  the  first  civilized  finder  of  a  creature  at 
once  brute  and  human,  though  of  the  same  species  with 
the  mocking  woodland  monster  that  he  had  not  dared  to 
fire  upon  a  while  ago  ?  Could  he  deny  the  testimony  of 
his  every  intellectual  faculty,  that  he  now  shrunk  from 
the  slaughter  of  a  mias  as  from  Murder,  though  before 
this,  and  in  these  very  forests,  he  had  ruthlessly 
brought  many  a  man-of-the-woods  groaning  and  bleed 
ing  to  the  ground  ! 

What  preposterousness,  however,  to  deem  murder  a 
crime  outside  of  social  conventions  ;  since,  if  mankind 
is  really  but  a  higher  evolution  of  Apedom,  the  ape 
must  logically  be  but  an  evolution  from  yet  lower 
Brutedom — and  that,  perhaps,  from  inert  matter  :  and 
to  shoot  a  man  having  no  conventional  human  relations, 
could  be  no  more,  in  itself,  a  Sin,  than  the  slaying  of  a 
bird.  What,  indeed,  was  Christian  society,  with  its 
positive  definitions  of  the  things  Man  might  and  might 
not  do  without  offending  against  man's  God,  but  a 
supercilious  conspiracy  of  intellectually-advanced  apes, 
who  assumed  for  themselves  a  special  Divine  creation, 


232  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

in  order  selfishly  to  protect  their  own  interests  while 
giving  over  to  destruction  the  dumb  progenitors  of  all 
themselves  could  ever  be  ? 

Was  there  really  any  philosophical  truth  in  anything 
Human  ?  Was  not  the  whole  moral  system  of  distinct 
ively  Human  life  a  vainglorious  fiction ;  well  enough 
for  those  who  could  win  fortune  and  glory  in  it,  but  the 
very  idiocy  of  needless  and  crownless  crucifixion  for 
him  who  suffered  poverty  and  obscurity  in  sacrificing 
himself  to  its  prescription,  for  the  hope  of  something 
exceptional  to  all  other  animate  creation  after  death  ? 

Thus  the  unhinged  thoughts  of  this  lonely  sitter  be 
side  an  Equatorial  forest-stream  went  wandering  on 
from  one  confusing,  desolating  speculation  to  another  ; 
enlarging  disbelief  without  supplying  positive  faith  for 
any  new  creed,  and  degrading  the  distracted  thinker's 
manhood  without  elevating  aught  to  help  its  redemp 
tion. 

Evening  was  at  hand  when  the  naturalist  aroused 
himself  from  this  fit  of  gloomy  abstraction,  and,  with 
arms  folded  and  look  cast  down,  paced  slowly  along  the 
bank  toward  the  cottage  occupied  by  him  while  in  that 
region.  Soon  after  his  settlement  in  Pa  Jenna's  vil 
lage  he  had  selected  the  Songi  neighborhood  as  most 
eligible  for  his  occasional  excursions  in  pursuit  of  the 
native  fauna  chiefly  attracting  his  interest,  and  caused 
a  habitation  of  one  room  to  be  constructed  there,  for  his 
use,  on  the  bank  between  the  river's  confluence  with 
the  Sadong  and  an  interval  of  the  forest  where  the 
Malay  town  rested  on  stumps  in  a  marsh.  At  this 
point  recurred  the  swampy  country  of  the  mias,  ex 
tending  thence,  northwestward,  through  the  flat  woods 
of  the  Simunjon  and  Sadong,  to  the  seashore.  Here, 
also,  could  be  found  the  curious  lemur,  tardigramus, 
called  the  u  Cucan"  by  the  natives ;  tiger-cats,  squir- 


A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE.  233 

rels,  and  even  an  occasional  specimen  ofNasalis  larvatus, 
or  great  long-nosed  monkey;  the  green  and  yellow  flying 
tree-frog,  and  many  magnificent  varieties  of  butterfly, 
including  a  rarely  beautiful  one  of  the  ornithopterous 
class,  whose  coat  of  black  velvet  has  a  collar  of  vivid 
crimson  and  wing-bands  of  brilliant  green  dots. 

To  journey  to  this  region  from  the  Sarawak  valley 
wholly  by  water, — instead  of  traveling  partly  by  land, 
as  the  Emngham  and  Williamson  party  had  done, — in 
volved  a  circuitousness  of  route  that  would  have  been 
too  lavish  in  time  and  distance  for  a  man  of  busi 
ness.  But  Doctor  Hedland  delighted  in  prahu-sailing 
beneath  lofty  roofs  of  leaves  and  branches,  and  had 
patience  for  as  many  tortuosities  of  way  as  led  him  by 
such  weird  channels.  In  a  matting-cabined  little  craft 
managed  only  by  Kalong,  he  was  wont  to  make  his  ex 
cursions  up  the  Sarawak  to  the  Morotaba  ;  by  the  latter 
to  the  Sadong  ;  and  down  that  to  the  brook-like  Songi. 

As  already  intimated,  his  shelter  during  these  visits 
was  a  cottage  sequestered  on  the  waterside ;  a  square 
basket,  as  it  were,  of  bamboo  poles  matted  together  by 
strips  of  the  same  giant  reed  :  inclosed  in  a  portico  of 
similar  poles  and  basketed  railings  ;  the  steep  roof  of 
Nypa  "ataps"  hooding  the  whole.  It  stood  a  short 
distance  back  from  the  stream,  where  the  prahu  was 
moored,  in  the  lighter  shade  of  a  clump  of  creeper-cov 
ered  trees,  with  a  short  ladder  of  four  steps  between  floor 
and  ground  ;  rude  benches  under  the  portico  held  the 
dead  birds  and  small  game  awaiting  Kalong's  articu 
lating,  or  embalming,  treatment,  and  in  the  one  cham 
ber  of  the  airy  interior  were  a  hammock,  several  inverted 
native  "  Tambok"  baskets  for  chairs,  a  larger  one  for  a 
table,  and  the  guns,  hampers,  nets  and  butte-cards  of 
the  owner. 

Into  this  structure  the  Doctor  betook  himself  at  the 


234  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

close  of  his  meditative  walk,  and  there  Kalong  and  his 
assistant  presently  served  him  with  a  true  hunter's 
meal  of  turtle's  eggs,  salt  fish  and  tea.  Listlessly  toss 
ing  the  Panama  hat  into  a  corner,  and  donning  his 
spectacles,  he  mechanically  availed  himself  of  one  of  the 
improvised  chairs  and  silently  partook  of  the  simple 
fare.  This  done,  he  motioned  for  the  strange  Dyak  to 
remove  the  primitive  table-appointments,  and,  upon 
the  ultimate  withdrawal  of  that  assistant-servitor,  ad 
dressed  himself  briefly  to  Kalong  : 

"  Is  Oshonsee  yet  in  the  durion  ?" 

"Yes,  Tuan.     He  has  been  there  since  mid-day." 

"  You  have  cleaned  my  gun  and  pistols  ?" 

"Yes,  Tuan  ;  as  you' told  me." 

"Then  you  and  your  comrade  may  go  up  to  Songi, 
and  need  not  return  until  morning." 

The  civilized  Dyak  knew  his  master's  positive  wajTs 
too  well  to  make  any  other  response  than  a  low  salaam  ; 
and,  gliding  out  of  the  room  and  house  in  noiseless 
obedience,  was  seen  no  more. 

Assured  that  he  was  again  alone,  Doctor  Hedland 
drew  from  a  pocket  the  black  skull-cap  and  put  it  on. 
A  Judge  about  to  pronounce  sentence  of  death  could 
not  have  performed  this  operation  over  a  countenance 
more  solemn.  Next  he  took  down,  in  succession,  from 
pegs  in  the  wattled  wall,  a  double-barreled  fowling- 
piece  and  a  pair  of  heavy  pistols,  and  carefully  loaded 
them  all.  Eeturning  the  gun  and  one  of  the  smaller 
weapons  to  their  places,  he  held  the  remaining  pistol 
closely  to  his  eyes  for  a  moment,  then  sharply  cocked 
it  and  went  hurriedly  forth,  carrying  it,  swinging,  in 
his  right  hand.  A  few  steps  from  the  portico  brought 
him  beneath  a  tall  durion  tree,  whence,  with  pistol 
thrust  behind  him,  he  looked  up  into  the  dense  mass  of 
leafage  far  above. 


A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE.  235 

A  pale,  dying  light  rested  upon  the  whole  scene. 
The  coming-on  of  the  wet-monsoon  made  the  sky  hazy, 
so  that  sunset  lost  every  tint  in  an  obscuring  film  and 
left  nature  without  a  shadow.  Silence  no  longer 
reigned,  but  in  place  thereof  the  cavernous  forest- 
depths  gave  forth  fitful  rustles  and  dreary,  wandering 
sounds,  more  isolating  to  human  sensibilities  than  any 
blank  of  voiceless  solitude  could  have  been.  Hasping 
chatters,  hoarse  single  notes,  distant  screaming  peals, 
crooning,  clucking  bursts,  so  abruptly  sharp  that  they 
seemed  to  be  in  the  jungle  nearest  at  hand— came  at 
irregular  intervals  from  the  encompassing  wilderness. 
Only  two  strains  of  the  inarticulate  tumult  had  any 
steadiness  of  continuity  or  alternation ;  the  resonant 
double  gong-beat  of  a  great,  hawk-like  species  of  pigeon, 
and  the  moaning  howl  of  some  creature  of  the  lower 
monkey  tribes,  Now  and  then  the  dimming  water 
course  splashed  with  the  unseen  plunge  of  aquatic  non 
descript. 

"  Oshonsee !"  called  his  master. 

At  the  summons  there  was  a  visible  stir  in  the  lofty 
durion's  thickest  spread  of  foliage,  and  then,  with  an 
unhurried  swing  from  branch  to  trunk,  by  an  arm,  the 
docile  ape  began  descending  as  a  practiced  human 
climber  might  have  done.  The  sinewy  nether  limbs 
pressed  only  close  enough  upon  the  smooth  scaly  bark 
to  give  the  knees  firmness  ;  the  clasping  arms  tight 
ened,  or  relaxed,  in  graduation  of  the  whole  movement, 
and  Oshonsee  came  to  the  ground  as  lightly  as  though 
he  had  flown.  Though  wearing  no  clothing  save  a 
"chawat"  at  the  waist,  and  showing  his  natural  coat 
of  duskily  golden  hair,  he  had  yet  a  perplexing  sugges- 
tiveness  of  humanity,  as  he  stood  there  in  man's  up 
right  attitude,  that  might  well  awaken  something  akin 
to  fear  in  any  civilized  beholder.  His  face,  on  which 


236  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAX. 

the  short,  silky  down  was  thin  enough  to  reveal  a  light 
flesh  beneath,  had  features  of  no  essentially  brutal  cast, 
excepting  only  the  straight  mouth  and  heavy,  protrud 
ing  jaw,  and  the  eyes,  large  and  inquiring,  glittered 
darkly  beneath  an  upright  semi-coronet  of  chestnut 
locks,  open  at  the  temples. 

As  the  ape  advanced  toward  him  from  the  foot  of  the 
tree,  treading  confidently  erect  on  the  sod,  Hedland  in 
voluntarily  drew  backward  two  or  three  steps,  and 
pointed  at  the  house  with  his  disengaged  hand.  In 
customary  prompt  obedience  Oshonsee  turned  in  that 
direction  and  moved  a  step  thitherward ;  but  only  to 
face  again  upon  his  inscrutable  master  with  indescrib 
able  quickness  and  fall  groveling,  shivering  and  moan 
ing  at  his  feet.  Instinct  had  warned  the  poor  creature 
of  his  danger,  and  the  change  of  position  was  accom 
plished  with  such  celerity,  that  the  pistol  swiftly  aimed 
at  the  back  of  his  head  exploded  harmlessly  above  it. 
Crash  upon  crash  of  echoes  came  back  from  the  grim 
woods  around,  with  a  momentary  accession  of  every 
discordant  voice  from  bough  and  jungle.  The  man 
dropped  his  smoking  weapon,  as  though  it  had  turned 
into  a  snake  ;  and  the  ape,  spasmodically  clasping  his 
ankles,  pressed  a  hairy  cheek  piteously  against  his 
trembling  knees. 

"  Lord  forgive  me  !"  came  in  hoarse  accents  from  the 
whitened  lips  of  the  naturalist. 

Presently  he  stooped  to  the  crouching  figure,  and, 
having,  by  strong  but  gently  exerted  force,  released  his 
feet,  patted  the  wailing  creature's  shoulder  and  finally 
lifted  him  to  a  sitting  position. 

"I  was  half  mad,  my  poor — Heaven  knows  WHAT 
you  are  !"  he  muttered,  caressing  tne  now  upturned 
hairy  face  as  though  it  had  been  a  child's.  "  Be  you 
Brute  or  Man,  it  was  the  devil's  own  dastard  prompt- 


A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE.  237 

ing  that  I  should  murder  you— poor,  faithful  wretch  !— 
to  escape  the  torments  of  a  mind  miserably  craven  to 
the  truths  you  shame  it  with. — Up,  now,  brave  fellow, 
and  your  durion  feast  shall  be  followed  by  a  taste  of 
arrack.  Do  you  hear,  Oshonsee  ? — arrack  !" 

This  last  word,  at  least,  Oshonsee  seemed  to  under 
stand  and  find  magically  reassuring  ;  for  he  leaped  to 
his  feet  at  the  utterance,  and  advanced  so  rapidly  to  the 
cottage  that  the  conscience-stricken  Doctor  was  left 
many  steps  behind. 

On  the  portico,  now  retaining  but  a  faint  light,  a  long 
blouse,  like  a  gown,  was  put  upon  the  ape,  to  protect 
him  from  the  chiller  air  of  evening  ;  after  which  at  his 
master's  command  he  brought  two  pipes  from  the  room, 
a  tobacco  pouch,  the  "besi-api,"  or  fire-making  tube, 
and  the  Panama  hat.  It  was  amongst  his  latest  accom 
plishments  to  light  and  smoke  a  pipe,  and  when  the 
naturalist  had  filled  the  two  bowls  this  gentle  monster 
struck  fire  for  his  own  as  well  as  the  other,  and  retired 
with  it,  puffing,  to  a  mat  within  the  doorway.  Then 
ensued  a  fulfillment  of  the  "  arrack  "  promise.  Going 
also  into  the  room,  the  unquestionably  human  member 
of  the  pair  took  down  a  case  bottle  of  Javanese  arrack 
from  a  hanging  hamper,  poured  a  small  quantity  of  the 
liquor  into  a  leathern  cup,  and  placed  the  latter  in  an 
eagerly  outstretched  hand  of  the  ape.  No  drunkard 
would  have  quaffed  the  gift  with  keener  avidity  ;  no 
words  of  acknowledgment  could  have  been  more  bibu- 
lously  appreciative  than  the  chattering  "  O-shon-see  ! 
O-shon-see  !  O-shon-see  !"  of  the  squatting  figure  on 
the  mat. 

Taking  no  draught  himself,  nor  speaking  again,  Doc 
tor  Hedland  returned  to  the  portico,  smoking  furiously, 
and  began  pacing  forward  and  backward,  there,  in  a 
condition  of  obvious  nervous  excitement.  He  wished 


238  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

to  walk  off  the  sensation  of  having  awakened  at  some 
unrevealing  hour  of  feverish  dawn  from  a  sick  man's 
panting  dream.  He  wanted  to  reconcile  himself  finally 
and  unflinchingly  to  his  inexorable  duty  as  a  faithful 
follower  of  fearless  science,  lead  it  to  what  it  might. 
No  cowardice  be  his,  henceforth,  at  working  to  a  decisive 
solution  the  awful  problem  involved  in  the  nature  of 
the  phenomenal  Living  Thing  he  had  that  day  been 
frenzied  to  murder. 

Pipe  in  mouth,  Oshonsee  was  a  shape  growing  less 
and  less  distinct  on  the  mat,  though  not  an  immedi 
ately  motionless  nor  a  silent  one,  with  knees  drawn 
nearly  up  to  his  chin,  and  long  arms  lapped  around 
them,  he  swayed  rockingly  from  side  to  side,  crooning 
like  a  sleepy  nurse  whose  lullaby  has  sunk  into  a  mere 
tuneless  trail  of  soothing  sound.  This  went  on  until 
the  extinguished  pipe  dropped  to  the  floor,  when,  with 
an  abrupt  cessation  of  the  crooning,  the  ape  fell  over  on 
his  side  and  was  quite  motionless. 

When  the  night  was  black  in  a  starless  maturity, 
Hedland  stopped  suddenly  in  his  weary  tramp,  at  sight 
of  a  faintly  luminous  appearance  down  the  river, 
where  the  narrow  stream  bent,  in  its  sylvan  course, 
around  a  little  cape  of  palms  and  jungle,  before  enter 
ing  upon  its  straighter  and  broader  reach  to  the  Sadong. 
The  effect  was  like  that  of  a  fire  concealed  by  the  cape, 
its  light  showing  around  the  bend  in  growing  bright 
ness,  but  soon  two  or  three  flickering  dots  of  flame 
came  into  view  in  a  broader  illumination,  apparently 
moving  forward  in  the  air  a  few  feet  above  the  water. 

Not  waiting  to  see  more  at  the  moment,  the  naturalist 
hastened  softly  into  his  house  and  cautiously  bent  over 
the  deeply  slumbering  Oshonsee.  A  brief  period  of 
intent  listening  satisfied  him  that  the  sleep  was  pro 
found  ;  after  which,  stepping  noiselessly  across  the 


A  CEISIS  FOE   08HON8EE.  239 

prostrate  form,  he  quickly  possessed  himself  of  the 
second  pistol,  and,  thrusting  it  into  the  breast  of  his 
blouse,  went  out  from  the  dark  and  silent  chamber  and 
portico  to  the  rapidly  lightening  waterside. 

A  score  of  twinkling  flames  now  shone  over  the  glim 
mering  stream  in  an  approaching  stealthy  train,  and  if 
the  spectator  on  the  bank  had  not  been  prepared  for 
the  lustrous  visitation  he  might  have  been  more  wary 
about  exposing  his  figure  to  its  intensifying  radiance. 
For  these  floating  tufts  of  fire,  coming  on  with  such 
spectral  movement,  soon  defined  themselves  as  the 
torches  of  half  as  many  prahus,  paddled  without  sound 
by  wild-looking,  half-naked  figures.  When  the  mid 
night  watches  on  ships  traversing  the  Malay  Archi 
pelago  beheld  these  lights  passing  silently  between  the 
islets  of  any  rocky  cluster,  from  the  savage  Sooloos  to 
the  fairy-like  Tambelans,  they  knew  that  the  Bajows, 
or  "  Sea-Gypsies,"  of  the  Borneon  coast  were  gathering 
for  some  mysterious  migration.  Dr.  Hedland  was 
aware  that  he  looked  upon  a  flotilla  of  this  strange  rem 
nant  of  lostDyak  tribes,  who  live  wholly  in  their  slight 
prahus  for  years  ;  the  combined  glare,  shadow,  partly- 
revealed  human  shapes  and  indistinctly-illumined  boats 
delighted  his  artistic  sensibilities  ;  and  when  the  fore 
most  ghostly  craft  glided  like  a  smoothly-swimming 
thing  to  the  side  of  his  own  deserted  little  vessel,  he 
stepped  forward  to  greet  one  who  leaped  ashore,  with 
an  expression  of  admiration. 

' '  What  a  picture  you  are  making  of  it,  most  brilliant  of 
the  princes  of  darkness,"  he  said,  extending  his  hand. 

The  man  standing  before  him  in  the  ruddy  torchlight, 
pressing  a  small,  cold  palm  to  his  in  civilized  salutation, 
wore  the  turban,  semi-Turkish  garments  and  native 
"  sarong  "  of  a  Malay,  though  without  the  usual  gold 
embroidery  of  a  pangeran's  attire. 


240  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"If  the  wise  Tuan  Hedland  is  pleased,"  returned 
this  comer,  "  it  is  happiness  enough  for  the  poor  prince 
without  a  country  whom  he  has  allowed  to  come  to  him 
like  a  hunted  fugitive  in  the  night." 

All  of  the  prahus  were  now  motionless  on  the  darkly 
gleaming  water ;  their  elevated  flames  at  bow  and  stern 
casting  a  mellow  glow  upon  the  figures  on  the  nearer 
bank,  the  forest  edges  of  the  farther  one,  and  the 
grouped  Bajow  crews,  whose  wet  oars,  metal  spear 
heads,  and  brazen  ornaments  on  necks,  arms  and 
waists,  caught  ever-varying  sparkles. 

"Ah,  my  friend  Makota,  did  I  not  warn  you  and 
Usop  of  what  would  come  from  that  mad  work  at 
Bruni  ?"  said  the  naturalist,  shaking  his  head. 

' '  That  is  past.     Allah  willed  it. " 

"  But  you  were  not  there,  Pangeran." 

"Usop1s  cause  was  mine — to  make  war,  endless  war, 
against  all  who  come  to  Pulo  Kalamantan  with  lying 
promises  on  their  tongues  and  death  in  their  friend 
ship." 

"And  the  end  of  it  is,  that  Usop  runs  away  to  Ki- 
manis,  and  I  hear  of  you,  once  more,  hiding  with  your 
old  comrade,  Shereef  Sahib,  in  the  ruins  of  Patusen," 
rejoined  Hedland,  impatiently. 

"  For  a  time,  Tuan  ;  only  for  a  time,"  answered  the 
Malay,  in  a  passionately  repressed  voice.  "  Makota's 
day  shall  come  yet.  The  leeches  of  Malacca  drop  off 
when  they  have  drunk  enough  blood,  and  then  a  child's 
naked  foot  may  crush  them." 

"  I  'm  afraid  the  leeches  will  take  flesh  and  bone,  too, 
if  you  Pangerans  break  many  more  English  treaties," 
growled  the  Englishman.  "But  my  letter  to  you  by 
Pa  Jenna  was  not  on  affairs  of  State,"  he  continued,  in 
a  friendlier  tone.  "  You  had  told  me  to  send  for  you 
to  meet  me  at  Songi  when  I  would,  and  as  Pa  Jenna 


A  CRISIS  FOR   OSHONSEE.  241 

heard  that  his  daughter,  Amina,  was  with  you  in  Patu- 
sen,  I  took  advantage  of  his  going  there,  to  hold  you  to 
your  pledge." 

u  And  I  am  here,  Tuan  Hedland  ;  though  I — Mako- 
ta ! — must  steal  hither  by  night,  with  such  guards  as 
these,  and  be  out  of  the  Sadong  before  the  dawn,  lest 
the  prahus  of  Muda  Hassim,  or  Budrudeen,  should 
track  me  down  like  a  skulking  Bugis  trader !"  The 
clenched  hands  and  drawn  lips  of  the  dark-faced  Ma 
hometan  bespoke  a  wrath  beyond  the  power  of  words. 

"  You  have  manfully  justified  my  confidence  in  you," 
acknowledged  the  Doctor,  soothingly;  "and  the  fact 
that  even  the  Bajows  remain  your  friends  while  the 
Sultan  joins  your  foes,  is  proof,  in  itself,  that  you  are 
yet  a  power.  And  now  to  the  purpose  of  our  meeting. 
—Shall  we  go  to  the  house  ?" 

"  There  is  no  time.  I  must  be  in  haste  to  return," 
said  the  fugitive  Pangeran ;  who  stood  with  one  foot 
advanced  in  an  oddly  constrained  attitude. 

"Then  here  be  it,"  was  the  coolly  philosophical 
assent.  "What  I  have  to  say  to  you,  Makota,  does 
not  require  many  words.  You  have  deceived  me  about 
the  mias  ;  not  from  any  unfriendly  motive,  I  believe, 
but  because  you  have  thought  that  the  value  of  the 
creature  to  me  depended  upon  his  belonging  to  this 
island.  With  all  the  superiority  of  intelligence  that  I 
know  you  to  possess  over  any  Malay  I  have  ever  met 
before,  you  seem  to  be  incorrigible  in  this  misapprehen 
sion.  I  tell  you  now,  for  the  last  time,  that  it  matters 
not  to  me  whether  the  ape  is  Sumatran,  or  Borneon ;  and 
I  tell  you,  also,  that  it  is  useless  for  you  to  insist  upon 
the  old  story.  He  did  not  come  from  beyond  the  Madi 
mountains,  as  you  have  represented  ;  for  it  is  proved  to 
me  at  last  that  his  species  has  been  known  in  the 
Sarawak  valley  within  six  years.  Yet  that  is  not  a 


242  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

mias  country ;  so,  what  miases  have  been  there  must 
have  been  brought  from  elsewhere  in  captivity.  Neither 
I  nor  any  other  European  can  tell  what  animals  may  be 
found  in  the  far  interior  of  your  land ; — but  it  is  my 
conviction  that  Oshonsee  is  no  ape  of  Borneo." 

u  Tuan  Hedland  is  neither  Malay,  nor  Dyak,  nor 
Chinese  ;  but  here  he  is  in  Pulo  Kalamantan,"  hinted 
his  auditor,  with  a  peculiar  smile. 

"And  that  Pangeran  would  be  worse  than  a  fool 
who  sought  to  convince  his  friend  that  I  could  be  of 
the  same  land  with  Asiatic  men,"  said  the  contempt 
uous  naturalist.  "  Trifle  with  me  no  longer,  Makota," 
he  continued,  more  peremptorily;  "for,  as  you  have 
been  told,  I  now  possess  proof  positive,  that  the  species 
of  this  mias  has  been  known  in  a  part  of  the  Sarawak 
region  where  it  was  impossible  for  it  to  have  been 
native.  Six  years  ago,  Sejugah,  a  young  Dyak  of  Pa 
Jenna's  village,  loved  a  girl  of  that  place,  and  was 
scorned  because  he  had  not  yet  brought  in  a  head  to 
show  his  prowess.  Even  at  that  time  the  business  of 
head-hunting  had  become  difficult ;  for,  between  the 
sultan's  army  with  you  and  Muda  Hassim  in  Sarawak, 
and  the  rebels  of  Siniawin,  the  amateur  seeker  after 
such  a  prize  stood  an  excellent  chance  of  losing  his  own 
skull. 

"But  Sejugah  did  bring  in  a  head,  one  day;  and, 
without  question,  it  was  smoked,  and  danced  over,  and 
hung  up  in  the  village  head-house,  by  his  simple-minded 
brother  savages.  There  it  remained,  long  after  the  re 
joicings  and  marriage,  until,  a  short  time  ago,  it 
attracted  the  notice  of  a  civilized  friend  of  mine  as 
having  a  look  different  from  the  other  heads.  Then  I 
was  persuaded  to  go  once  more  into  the  hideous  place 
and  scrutinize  the  head  for  myself.  By  the  Orang- 
Kaya's  authority  I  had  it  brought  down  for  me  from 


A  CRISIS  FOR   OSHONSEE.  243 

the  rafters,  though  Sejugah  sought,  even  by  force,  to 
prevent ;  and  I  found  it  to  be  the  head  of  a  mias.*- 
But  such  a  mias,  Pangeran  Makota,  as  neither  you  nor 
I  ever  saw  before  Oshonsee.  It  is  a  head  such  as  his ; 
neither  Pappan,  nor  Rombi,  nor  Kassar,  nor  any  other 
Borneon  type  ;  some  foreign  and  hybrid  creature,  I 
could  swear,  and  probably  female.  I  believe  firml}', 
from  every  appearance,  that  it  is  the  head  of  the 
mother  of  the  mias  you  procured  for  me ;  and  the 
shame-stricken  Sejugah  has  confessed  that  he  killed 
the  creature,  with  his  spear,  at  the  foot  of  Tubbang 
mountain,  close  to  his  own  village  ! 

"It  is  useless,  after  this,  Makota,  for  you  to  attempt 
farther  deception  with  me.  I  know  that  Oshonsee 
came  not  from  the  Madi  mountains,  and  that  his  race 
could  not  have  originated  in  this  Island  at  all.  You 
can  tell  me  the  whole  truth  if  you  choose,  and  it  is 
essential  to  a  great  interest  of  my  Science  that  you 
shall  no  longer  withhold  it.  By  our  friendship  I  charge 
you,  for  the  last  time,  to  say  all  that  you  really  know 
of  the  history  of  this  strange  creature." 

The  slender  figure  of  the  Malay  remained  motionless 
in  the  torchlight,  while  the  stalwart  frame  of  the  earnest 
Englishman  swayed  with  many  an  emphatic  gesture. 

"I  have  deceived  you,"  said  Makota,  slowly  and 
without  emotion,  "but  only  through  knowing  no  more 
than  yourself  about  the  birthplace  of  the  mias.  My 
hunters  brought  the  creature  to  me  in  Kuchin  on  their 
return  from  a  long  hunt  after  pheasants.  It  was  so 
young  then  that  it  was  put  to  suckle  with  the  female 
mias  that  Muda  Hassim  afterwards  gave  to  the  English 
rajah.  My  people  may  have  found  it  anywhere  between 
Kuchin  and  the  Batang  Lupar.  I  told  you  the  Madi 

*  This  whole  passage  is  historical. 


244  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

mountains,  because  you  knew  that  the  mias  was  not  a 
Pappan  of  Sambas,  or  Simunjon.  and  I  did  not,  myself, 
know  where  such  as  he  certainly  belonged.  By  the  beard 
of  the  Prophet !  I  swear  that  I  can  tell  you  no  more." 

Always  willing  to  credit  this  most  intellectual  of  the 
native  princes  of  Borneo  proper  with  much  more  re 
spectable  moral  qualities  than  ever  found  credence  at 
Kuchin,  the  disappointed  Doctor  doubted  not  that  he 
had  now  heard  all  the  truth  attainable,  and  paced  back 
and  forth  in  abstracted  thought,  for  a  moment,  before 
speaking  again. 

al  am  bound  to  believe  you,  Pangeran  ;  for  your 
misapprehensive  deception  has  not  been  even  so  much 
as  I  could  have  wished,"  he  said  at  last.  "This  ape 
must  now  remain  an  inexplicable  mystery  to  the  last,  I 
suppose — a  mere  accidental  monster,  and  probably  the 
last  of  an  untraceable  species.  None  the  less,  though, — 
half  a  Man  !  I  '11  maintain  that,  if  the  whole  world 
laughs  at  me  !"  This  part  of  his  remarks  might  as  well 
have  been  in  English,  for  all  that  his  stolid  hearer  un 
derstood  thereof,  and  he  appreciated  the  fact  sufficiently 
to  change  the  exhausted  theme  : 

"Makota,  I  have  none  of  the  superhuman  powers 
your  people  of  this  Island  insist  upon  attributing  to 
Rajah  Brooke  and  all  his  countrymen ;  but  it  may  be 
possible  for  me  to  befriend  you,  if  you  will  be  wise.  A 
relative  of  a  man  whom  I  greatly  love  was  wounded  at 
Malludu,  and  the  man  has  sent  me  a  message  to  visit 
Kuchin  and  give  him  the  benefit  of  my  skill  as  a  physi 
cian.  I  shall  go,  and  it  will  be  congenial  to  the  real 
friendship  I  feel  for  you,  to  be  a  negotiator  there  on 
your  behalf.  You  are  well  aware  that  I  have  no  par 
ticular  personal  affection  for  the  Rajah  of  Sarawak ; 
nevertheless,  I  see  plainly  that  it  is  the  most  futile  folly 
for  you  to  remain  his  enemy.  In  fighting  him  you  are 


A  CRISIS  FOR  OSHONSEE.  245 

contending  not  only  with  your  own  Sultan,  but  also 
with  the  whole  might  of  the  great  English  nation. 
You  see  what  Usop  and  the  Shereefs  have  paid  for  their 
childish  whistling  against  the  wind.  Be  wiser  in  this, 
as  in  all  else,  than  they,  and  let  me  mediate  between 
yourself  and  Tuan  Besar  for  your  restoration  to  loyalty, 
to  your  true  princely  estate,  and  to  the  confidence  of 
civilized  men." 

Standing  yet  in  that  constrained  attitude,  the  swarthy 
Mahometan  turned  up  his  face,  in  the  glinting  light,  to 
that  of  his  taller  counsellor,  with  a  look  of  concentrated 
hatred  upon  it  more  frank  than  any  expression  it  had 
previously  shown. 

"  You  shall  bear  him  a  message  from  Makota :  one  he 
has  already  heard,"  he  said,  slowly  and  significantly. 

"What  is  it?" 

"  Let  him  look  to  his  friends  !" 

u  I  do  not  understand  that." 

"  Tuan  Besar  will  understand." 

"  I  shall  say  nothing,  then,  Pangeran.  Obscure 
menaces  are  neither  for  Christian  men  to  carry  nor  to 
heed.  You  refuse  my  good  offices  and  choose  to  keep 
your  own  wray.  So  be  it." 

"  Has  Tuan  Hedland  any  farther  command  for  his 
poor,  mad  friend  ?" 

" No.     We  may  part  now." 

Quickly  drawing  back  the  foot  he  had  kept  so  stub 
bornly  advanced,  the  Malay  lightly  stooped  :  then  arose 
as  lithely  with  some  object  in  his  extended  hand  : 

"You  dropped  this,  Tuan,  coming  out  to  meet  the 
pursued  and  friendless  Makota  !" 

Mechanically  the  naturalist  received  the  proffered 
pistol — that  which  he  had  discharged  earlier  in  the 
evening,  and  which  had  caught  the  keen  eye  of  the 
Pangeran  at  the  latter's  first  step  on  the  bank,  Not 


246  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

until  his  ironical  visitor  had  slipped  noiselessly  back 
into  the  cabined  prahu  and  waved  a  taciturn  farewell, 
did  he  fully  realize  that  he  had  been  suspected  of  pos 
sible  treachery. 

"  The  hair-brained  idiot !"  he  wrathfully  muttered, 
with  a  passing  indignant  impulse  to  fire  the  other  pis 
tol  into  the  air,  as  a  resentful  taunt;  "does  he  think 
me  as  much  an  assassin  as  his  heathen  self?" 

Not  the  faintest  sound  had  come  from  the  light-giving 
prahus  during  the  whole  characteristic  interview  ;  and 
now,  when  the  one  bearing  Makota  shot  out,  with  its 
flaring  torches,  to  take  the  lead  down  the  forest-walled 
stream,  they  successively  resumed  motion,  as  stealthily 
devoid  of  so  much  hint  to  the  ear  as  even  plash  of  oar. 
Most  insidious  of  all  the  midnight  prowlers  of  East  In 
dian  seas,  whether  in  depredatory  approach  or  mocking 
flight,  those  Bajow  rowers  could  propel  their  ghostly 
craft  in  a  stillness  as  absolute  as  that  kept  by  their 
tongues.  The  luminous  circle  of  fiery  radiance  drew 
away  from  the  bank  and  the  figure  upon  it ;  receding 
down  the  narrow  stream  through  continual  pale  appa 
ritions  and  cloudy  disappearances  of  arching  tree- 
boughs  and  flitting  jungle,  until  the  floating  central 
bits  of  fire  went,  dwindling,  one  by  one,  out  of  sight, 
and  once  more  there  was  but  a  spectral  gleam  around 
the  bend  of  the  river. 

Doctor  Hedland  remained  watching  the  barbaric 
spectacle  to  this  point ;  and  then  turned  his  back  sharply 
upon  it,  in  something  like  the  vaguely  protesting  spirit 
of  a  man  moving  from  one  side  to  the  other  upon  his 
bed,  at  half-waking  release  from  an  ungracious  dream. 
The  blank  darkness  in  which  he  was  left  had  a  more 
desolate  effect  of  complete  isolation,  from  his  feeling 
that  even  the  semblance  of  his  friendship  with  the  sullen 
Malay  had  ended,  Not  his  the  fault,  nor  the  loss  ;  yet. 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  247 

in  a  certain  perverse  way,  he  had  warmly  admired  the 
indomitable  traitor  prince,  and  felt  the  lonelier  in  the 
world  through  knowing  that  even  a  hollow  pretense 
on  Makota's  side  could  be  trusted  no  more. 

It  was,  therefore,  rather  heavy-heartedly  that  he 
groped  his  way  back  to  the  cottage  ;  though,  perhaps, 
with  an  even  more  softened  sentiment  than  before  for 
the  yet  profoundly  sleeping  dumb  familiar  of  his  savage 
exile.  Only  the  measured  breathing  of  the  Ape,  in 
the  thick  gloom,  gave  evidence  of  a  companioning 
presence  within  that  pigmy  shrine  of  vaunting  human 
Knowledge,  on  the  black  verge  of  an  untrodden  world  ; 
but,  without — where  all  was  one  vast,  veiling  sylvan 
temple  to  an  unknown  God — the  Pagan  priesthood  of 
the  palms  rustled  fitfully  a  wordless  incantation  to  un- 
lighted  skies,  and  the  myriad  uninterpretable  voices  of 
the  trackless  wild  resounded  like  a  choral  dithyramb  of 
the  Lost. 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

AT  MR.   MEBTON'S  TABLE. 

IN  any  part  of  the  habitable  globe  the  most  useful  of 
roving  titles  for  a  man  to  wear  is  that  of  "Captain," 
and  it  might  have  been  Mr.  Merton's,  in  Kuchin,  had 
he  chosen  to  cherish  the  professional  identity  of  his  first 
appearance  in  the  East  Indies. 

It  was  as  commander  and  part  owner  of  a  fine  India- 
man  that  he  became  acquainted,  at  Singapore,  with  the 
noted  Captain  Van  der  Beck,  whose  greatly  successful 
transformation  into  planter  and  shipper  on  the  island 
of  Ceram  suggested  to  our  English  mariner  that  he, 


248  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

also,  might  profit  by  speculative  individual  adventure 
in  the  Archipelago.  "With  no  very  definite  idea  of  the 
particular  island  he  should  ultimately  select  for  his  own 
purpose,  nor  in  what  special  products  he  should  interest 
himself,  he  impulsively  decided  to  dispose  of  his  owner 
ship  in  the  Indiaman,  purchase  a  smaller  vessel,  and 
compete  in  the  coasting  trade  between  the  Straits  Set 
tlements  and  Celebes  until  opportunity  of  more  ambi 
tious  investment  should  offer. 

Bringing  out  his  wife  from  her  English  home  to 
Singapore,  at  that  time  a  lively  new  centre,  yet,  of 
commercial  enterprise,  from  the  prosperous  impetus 
given  to  it  by  Sir  Stamford  Baffles'  earlier  exaltation  of 
British  prestige  in  the  Java  Sea,  Captain  Merton  forth 
with  entered  upon  his  project.  In  a  schooner  too  well 
armed  and  manned  to  dread  piratical  interference, 
unless  wrecked,  he  cruised  from  port  to  port  as  far 
as  the  Banda  Sea,  and  then  back ;  always  alert  for  any 
such  local  eligibility  of  power  and  thrift  as  Van  der 
Beck  had  discovered.  He  returned  with  the  conviction 
that  there  was  only  one  thus  eligible  opening  in  the 
whole  Archipelago,  and  that  the  Dutch  skipper  had 
availed  himself  of  it. 

Not  caring  after  that  to  prosecute  his  trading  rivalry 
with  the  energetic  Bugis,  nor  yet  willing  to  go  home 
discomfited  to  England,  he  summarily  sold  his 
schooner,  and  presently  obtained  an  interest  in  an 
experimental  cotton  plantation  owned  by  a  Dutch 
gentleman  named  Yon  Camp,  in  the  province  of  Ban 
tam,  Java.  The  subsequent  sale  of  this  plantation,  at 
a  supposably  larger  profit  than  might  have  accrued 
from  farther  amateur  working,  was  followed  by  the  re 
appearance  of  the  Mertons  in  Singapore,  accompanied 
by  the  Yon  Camps.  Upon  becoming  a  landed  proprie 
tor  Mr,  Merton  had  chosen  to  drop  his  title,  and  it  was 


AT  ME.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  249 

as  "little  Merton  from  Manchester"  that  his  compa 
triots  of  the  Straits  finally  knew  him,  in  his  various 
enterprises  with  Mr.  Yon  Camp. 

When  Rajah  Brooke  had  made  Kuchin  a  place  of 
mark  to  the  whole  world,  the  two  friends  were  among 
the  first  of  Europeans  to  risk  a  residence  there  ;  and  so 
they  come  into  the  present  story ;  both,  indeed,  at  this 
telling,  being  concerned  with  Mr.  Emngham  in  projects 
to  establish  Chinese  coal-mining  on  the  Simunjon,  and 
build  in  Singapore  a  factory  for  the  preparation  of  Bor- 
neon  sago. 

Our  American  family  and  these  new  acquaintances 
having  already  been  seen  in  friendly  company  together, 
the  foregoing  sketch  of  a  typical  speculative  career  in 
the  Malayan  Indies  of  forty  years  ago  may  serve  to 
give  more  distinct  individual  interest  to  the  Mertons  as 
the  hosts  of  a  little  dinner-party,  whereat  the  Yon 
Camps  and  the  Effinghams  were  invited  to  meet  the 
Eajah,  Mr.  Williamson  and— Doctor  Hedland ! 

Kuchin  had  exhausted  itself  in  every  public  device  of 
celebration  at  Tuan  Besar's  victorious  return  from 
Bruni  and  Malludu.  A  triumphant  escort  of  prahus 
for  H.  M.  S.  Driver,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Sarawak  to 
the  Rajah's  wharf ;  salutes,  illuminations  with  torches 
and  Chinese  lanterns,  and  a  picturesque  native  cere 
mony  of  heroic  welcome  by  two  charming  daughters  of 
the  magistrate  known  as  the  Tumangong,  had  been 
successive  forms  of  joyous  greeting  to  an  idolized 
ruler ;  and  then  to  the  patriotism  of  the  foreign  resi 
dents  were  left  such  hospitable  private  demonstrations 
as  might  be  consistent  with  the  fact  that  a  young  Eng 
lish  officer  had  been  brought  back  severely  wounded  to 
the  Rajah's  house. 

Mr.  Merton  waited  only  long  enough  to  be  assured 
that  the  stricken  youth  was  convalescing,  to  announce 


250  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN 

his  modest  entertainment.  It  was  impracticable  in  a 
cottage  like  his  to  attempt  any  banquet  on  a  grand 
scale,  even  had  the  social  availabilities  of  the  place 
been  such  as  to  yield  due  proportions  of  the  sexes  in  a 
large  party.  Accordingly,  after  an  invitation  to  the 
Rajah,  his  immediate  staff  and  guests,  of  whom  but 
the  first,  his  aide,  and  the  Doctor  could  return  accept 
ances,  he  besought  the  company  of  the  two  families 
most  likely  to  be  congenial  in  the  circumstances.  In 
deed,  although  it  was  now  generally  understood  that 
the  savage  blow  from  a  "  parang-ihlang "  suffered  by 
Mr.  Belmore  had  not  fractured  the  skull,  as  was  at 
first  feared,  a  peculiar  regard  for  both  the  Lieutenant 
and  his  Uncle .  constrained  the  Rajah  to  abstain  yet 
awhile  from  any  social  attentions  not  of  the  quietest 
order. 

Hence,  the  gathering  of  eleven  people,  in  the  Mer- 
tons'  family -room,  preparatory  to  the  dining,  had  any 
aspect  but  that  of  a  State  affair  ;  and  there  was  much 
pleasantry  amongst  them  at  the  difficulties  they  had  all 
experienced  in  trying,  on  different  occasions,  to  main 
tain  the  hospitable  forms  of  civilized  society  amidst  the 
many  awkward  limitations  of  their  present  Gipsy  kind 
of  life.  As  for  the  dresses  of  the  occasion,  they,  too, 
partook  of  its  enforced  simplicity ;  the  ladies  wearing 
plain  summer  silks  and  no  ornaments  beyond  a  few 
natural  flowers  in  their  hair,  and  the  gentlemen  looking 
practical  in  loose  black  coats  and  nether  appointments, 
and  white  waistcoats. 

Coming  thither  from  the  usual  daily  session  of  his 
court  of  justice,  in  which,  with  the  native  magistracy 
ranged  on  either  side  of  his  chair,  he  awarded  repara 
tion  to  the  wronged  and  punishment  to  the  guilty,  the 
Rajah  brought  with  him  no  other  slightest  sign  of  his 
princely  rank  than  the  handkerchief  almost  perpetually 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  251 

in  his  hand  ;  and  this  characteristic  Orientalism  was  so 
obviously  without  immediate  consciousness  on  his  part, 
that  it  seemed  rather  an  oversight  than  a  mannerism. 
After  the  first  salutations  he  chatted  with  the  ladies,  in 
groups  or  singly,  upon  such  light  local  topics,  or  latest 
bits  of  news  from  Europe,  as  they  might  be  supposed 
to  care  about,  becoming  taciturn  only  when  anything 
in  the  general  conversation  threatened  to  make  the 
Bruni  expedition  a  subject  of  special  reference. 

Ko  man  ever  won  a  great  position  in  the  world  with 
less  pride  over  its  conventional  heroism  and  more  jeal 
ousy  of  its  genuine  moral  integrity  than  James  Brooke. 
In  the  public  duties  of  his  anomalous  Christian  govern 
ment  of  a  Mahometan  principality  he  could  assume  the 
stateliest  air  of  an  absolute  potentate,  and  convey  an 
impression  of  all  the  militant  power  of  his  rank  ;  but 
when  associating  informally  with  people  of  his  own 
race,  it  was  his  wish  to  be  simply  an  unaffected  Eng 
lish  gentleman,  engaged  in  an  as  yet  undecided  hu 
manely  regenerative  mission  ;  and  it  gave  him  more 
humiliation  than  complacence  to  be  reminded  of  his 
occasional  compulsion  to  the  sword. 

It  is  difficult  to  idealize  such  a  character  in  any  effec 
tive  degree  for  abstract  literary  presentation  ;  yet  even 
as  but  an  untitled  member  of  a  little  party  of  educated 
exiles  from  civilization  gathered  socially  in  a  Borneon 
house  of  bamboo,  Mr.  Brooke  had  a  distinctive  and 
suggestive  dignity  of  aspect  by  which  the  commonest 
observation  would  have  recognized  him  as  one  pos 
sessed  of  an  eminent  personal  history.  The  high  fore 
head,  delicate  temples,  spirited  sensibility  of  nostril, 
and  firm  curve  of  shapely  chin  ;  the  eyes,  at  once  keen 
and  benevolent,  and  twinkling  with  a  latency  of  ingen 
uous  humor ;  the  mouth,  as  refinedly  unsensuous  as  it 
was  decisively  manly  ;  combined  in  an  intellectual  ex- 


252  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

pression  both  lofty  and  propitiatory ;  to  which  the 
erect  bearing  and  graceful  ease  of  movement  induced 
by  years  of  familiar  quiet  command  and  ennobling 
physical  freedom,  were  the  harmonious  completion  of  a 
personality  the  more  impressively  distinguished,  from 
appearing  to  gain  without  factitious  appeal  an  instinct 
ive  general  concession  of  tacit  deference  to  it. 

The  Mortons  and  their  friends  inferred  that  the  arrival 
of  Doctor  Hedland  at  the  government  house,  to  con 
sult  with  the  official  surgeon,  Doctor  Treacher,  in  the 
case  of  the  wounded  lieutenant,  had  been  followed  by 
some  form  of  reconciliation  between  the  Eajah  and  his 
old  comrade  ;  but  they  were  somewhat  surprised  to 
observe  such  evidence  of  fully  restored  friendship  as 
their  acceptance  of  a  social  invitation  together.  The 
naturalist  was  prepared  to  be  regarded  with  some  in 
quisitive  curiosity,  and  in  greeting  the  Effinghans  took 
occasion  to  offer  both  an  apology  and  an  explanation. 

"  With  all  due  appreciation  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Merton's 
polite  hospitality,  madame,"  he  said,  when  presented 
to  Mrs.  Effingham,  "I  might  not  have  been  able  to 
combat  my  unsocial  tendencies  sufficiently  to  avail  my 
self  of  it  to-day,  but  for  the  particular  temptation  of  the 
opportunity  to  modify  that  unfavorable  estimation  in 
which  you  and  the  other  ladies  of  your  household  must 
have  held  me  since  our  first  meeting." 

"Do  not  mention  that,  sir,"  she  responded,  with  a 
smile.  "  The  circumstances  were  so  exceptional,  and 
your  provocation  was  so  great,  that  you  might  justly 
have  expected  our  feelings  to  be  more  apologetic  for 
ourselves  than  inimical  to  you." 

"  That  is  certainly  a  magnanimous  way  of  putting  it, 
Mrs.  Effingham,  and  I  thank  you, "  the  Doctor  remarked, 
with  a  bow  and  an  answering  smile  ;  "  but  as  I  am  back 
here  again  with  old  friends  on  my  good  behavior,  I  de- 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  253 

sire  to  confess  frankly  that  I  am  not  the  kind  of  man 
with  whom  many  can  get  along  agreeably,  unless  by 
making  a  very  generous  allowance  for  the  irritabilities 
of  a  temper  that  has  not  improved  by  average  contact 
with  the  world.  We  are  so  few  white  Christians,  alto 
gether,  in  this  outlandish  wilderness  of  heathendom, 
that  I  am  fairly  sick  of  trying  to  find  a  comfort  in  hostile 
independence,  and  believe  that  it  is  good  philosophy  to 
avow  my  mistake  and  resume  the  bondage  of  mutual 
social  obligation  !  I  said  to  my  old  friend,  Mr.  Brooke, 
beside  the  sick-bed  of  our  gallant  young  patient :  '  You 
are  such  an  exceptionally  unsatisfactory  person,  Eajah, 
to  attempt  to  force  into  the  attitude  of  an  enemy,  that 
I  renounce  the  delusive  experiment.'  His  incredibly 
pitiless  answer  was — as  we  shook  hands — that  he  had 
never  doubted  my  experience  of  untold  torments  in 
trying  vainly  to  persuade  myself  that  I  cared  no  longer 
for  our  early  friendship,  and  that  there  had  never  been 
a  moment  since  our  parting  at  Singapore  when  he  would 
have  been  afraid  to  count  upon  me  as,  in  reality,  one  of 
the  stanchest  friends  he  could  find  in  the  world  I" 

Everybody  in  the  room  was  compelled  to  hear  this 
unreserved  confidence ;  for  the  speaker  seemed  pur 
posely  to  make  all  his  confidants  by  particularly  loud 
and  deliberate  speaking.  Mr.  Brooke  laughed  at  the 
quotation  from  himself,  and  intimated  that  no  one  else 
who  knew  the  terrible  Doctor  had  ever  been  the  least 
bit  more  credulous  of  his  enmity. 

"It  is  enviable,  sir,  to  be  the  subject  of  such  incre 
dulity,"  said  Mrs.  Eflfingham,  recovering  from  her  mo 
mentary  embarrassment  at  seeming  to  be  the  interlocutor 
in  a  public  confession. 

"I  don't  know  about  that,  madame,"  returned  Hed- 
land,  resuming  his  usual  tone  and  manner.  "  There 
are  times  when  a  human  being  of  average  spirit  would 


254  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

like  to  be  credited  with  a  good,  honest  power  of 
hating." 

"It  does  not  seem  possible  to  me  that  real  hatred 
can  ever  supplant  real  love,"  remarked  the  lady. 
"Doubtless  a  course  of  bitterly  hostile  thought,  and 
even  action,  may  result  from  affection  repelled,  or  be 
trayed  ;  but  the  very  passion  of  such  bitterness  arises 
from  the  affronted  love  yet  underlying  it.  Jealousy's 
utmost  extravagance  is  not  yet  hatred ;  for  hate  and 
love  cannot  exist  simultaneously  in  the  same  heart,  and 
the  revengeful  antagonism  created  by  a  sense  of  injus 
tice  in  a  loving  nature  is  very  different  from  the  in 
stinctive  antipathy  actuating  all  real  hatred." 

"  Which  I  take  to  be  a  considerate  way  of  saying  that 
I  have  been  simply  jealous  of  my  friend  Brooke — and 
perhaps  you  're  right,"  said  the  Doctor,  maliciously 
enjoying  the  confession  of  the  fair  philosopher  at  his 
blunt  personal  application  of  her  theory.  "At  any 
rate,  madame,  I  hope  that  I  have  now  made  my  peace 
with  yourself  and  all  other  friends  in  Kuchin.  I  knew, 
when. I  entered  this  room,  that  everybody  here  was 
wondering  how  the  Rajah  and  myself  appeared  to  be 
upon  such  good  terms,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  my 
sensible  course  was  to  confess  in  public  at  once,  and 
have  the  fool's  play  over." 

Mrs.  Emngharn  greeted  this  characteristic  summing- 
up  of  the  whole  matter  with  a  pleasant  little  laugh. 

"  I  call  that  true  moral  courage,  as  well  as  excellent 
common  sense.  May  I  ask  you-  now,  as  you  have  re 
ferred  to  your  patient,  how  Mr.  Belmore  is  getting 
on?" 

"  As  well  as  the  slow  healing  of  a  wound  will  allow, 
in  this  latitude." 

"  His  Uncle  is  with  him  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  since  two  days  ago.     The  Colonel  was  stop- 


AT  MR.  MERTON' S  TABLE.  255 

ping  in  Sambas,  as  you  have  heard,  I  suppose,  on  his 
way  to  Singapore,  when  Mr.  Brooke's  messenger  over 
took  him  with  news  of  his  nephew's  mishap.  He  at 
once  dispatched  runners  to  me,  and  then  came  back 
here  himself  by  prahu." 

"We  deeply  sympathize  with  him  in  his  anxiety," 
said  Mrs.  Effingham.  "When  it  was  first  reported 
that  Mr.  Belmore's  injury  was  dangerous  our  house  was 
as  sad  as  though  he  had  belonged  to  it.  Both  Mr. 
Effingham  and  myself  have  acquired  a  very  warm  regard 
for  the  young  man." 

While  this  conversation  was  progressing,  the  Kajah 
had  been  drawn  into  a  lively  debate  of  the  great  Bor- 
neon  coal  question  by  Messieurs  Merton,  Yon  Camp, 
and  Effingham,  the  joint  local  business-enterprises  of 
those  gentlemen  enlisting  his  heartiest  approval ;  Mr. 
Williamson  had  undertaken  to  describe  to  Mrs.  Yon 
Camp.  Miss  Ankeroo  and  the  taciturn  Abretta,  how  the 
edible  birds'-nests  were  found  and  gathered  in  caves 
along  the  coast ;  and  Mrs.  Merton  was  absent  upon  an 
inquest  of  the  final  preparations  for  dinner. 

The  plan  of  the  Merton  mansion  included  no  halls 
nor  other  spaces  between  apartments.  The  door  from 
the  veranda  opened  immediately  upon  the  family-room, 
and  one  directly  opposite  to  it  in  the  partition  of  the 
latter  gave  access  to  the  dining-room ;  the  dormitories 
being  divided  and  doored  from  either  end  of  each  of  the 
two  main  interiors.  When,  therefore,  upon  summons  of 
a  Portuguese  butler,  the  principal  guest  offered  an  arm 
to  his  hostess,  and  the  others  paired  in  due  processional 
order  thereafter,  an  effect  of  comedy  was  produced  by 
the  abruptness  with  which  all  emerged  against  the  very 
backs  of  the  chairs  they  were  to  occupy  at  table. 

But  none  of  the  embarrassments  of  civilized  hospital 
ity  in  a  savage  country  involved  any  humiliation  for  the 


256  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

givers  of  the  entertainment,  inasmuch  as  they  were 
common  to  the  domestic  experience  of  every  European 
family  in  Borneo  ;  and  the  more  unlike  every  detail  and 
episode  was  to  that  which  would  have  been  exigent  in  a 
Christian  land,  the  fresher  was  its  zest  as  a  character 
istic  barbarous  sauce  piquant.  With  all,  too,  the 
Merton  dinner,  beginning  with  an  unexceptionable  soup 
and  ending  with  such  a  variety  of  fruits  as  few  princely 
boards  can  show,  lacked  only  ices  to  be  complete  in  all 
the  principal  dishes  and  dainties  of  a  London  or  New 
York  banquet.  Fish  of  rare  delicacy,  native  oysters,  or 
"  tirarns,"  turtle,  and  chicken  deliciously  curried  in  the 
inimitable  Bombay  style,  preceded  or  alternated  with 
substantial  mutton,  beef  and  venison  :  the  wines,  espe 
cially  the  India  sherry,  were  good  and  plentiful ;  and 
the  ornamentation  of  flowers  was  as  brilliant  as  the  most 
sensuous  taste  could  have  devised.  Given  the  endless 
gustatory  availabilities  of  the  heart  of  the  Tropics,  with 
Chinese  servants  facile  to  acquire  the  subtlest  arts  of 
cooking  and  service  which  can  be  taught  to  them,  and 
an  Apicius  might  be  happy  in  Pulo  Kalimantan. 

Incidentally  to  this  suggestion,  and  affably  addressing 
the  table  generally,  Mr.  Brooke  presently  observed  : 

"I  am  sometimes  disposed  to  believe,  that,  in  trying 
to  interest  my  fellow-countrymen,  at  home,  in  Borneo,  I 
would  do  well  to  expatiate  more  upon  the  delicious 
things  one  may  find  here  to  eat.  Diamonds,  gold,  tin, 
antimony,  rice,  coffee,  cocoanuts,  and  what  not,  seem  to 
appeal  as  familiar  abstractions  to  the  British  mind. 
Mention  of  them  is  always  expected  when  one  has  any 
thing  to  say  about  unpleasantly  hot  countries,  and  they 
no  longer  fire  the  commercial  imagination  as  in  former 
times.  Become  enthusiastic,  however,  over  the  pleasures 
of  the  table  to  be  enjoyed  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
forthwith  you  establish  one  of  the  strongest  of  all  possi- 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  257 

ble  temptations  for  the  average  man  to  go  thither  some 
time  if  he  can." 

"Possibly  we  are  betraying  a  national  secret  to  Mr. 
Effingham,"  added  Dr.  Hedland,  beaming  amiably 
through  his  glasses,  "but  I  am  sure  you  are  right, 
Rajah.  The  parts  of  the  Globe  to  which  Englishmen  can 
be  the  most  easily  drawn  are  those  of  which  you  can  re 
port  that,  however  their  minerals  and  other  sordid  at 
tractions  may  disappoint,  they  are  always  to  be  trusted 
for  a  good  dinner.  What  curries  and  mangoes  have 
done  for  India,  turtles  and  durions  might  effect  for  Bor 
neo.  The  more  you  think  of  this  idea,"  continued  the 
Doctor,  more  seriously,  "the  less  farcical  it  will  seem. 
What  European  countries  are  the  least  popular  with 
dyspeptics  even,  but  those  in  which  the  table-fare  is 
poorest  ?  Why  is  diamond-seeded  Africa  neglected  for 
illusive  Asia,  except  because  the  African  adventurer 
must  expect  to  forego  all  decent  eating  ?" 

"Conceding  that  the  argument  is  fairly  logical,"  said 
Mr.  Merton,  "it  would  scarcely  apply  beneficially  to 
Borneo  ;  where  we  do  not  at  present  need  pleasure- 
visitors,  or  colonists,  so  much  as  Spartan  capitalists." 

"  That  is,  indeed,  our  great  want — individuals,  or 
Companies,  of  large  means,  to  come  to  this  vast,  vir 
tually  unappropriated  Island  of  untold  riches,  and 
utilize  its  wonderful  products  to  the  civilized  world," 
assented  the  Rajah,  with  remarkable  earnestness. 
"  Now  cannot  you  ladies  persuade  Mr.  Effingham  to 
remain  with  us  at  least  another  year  ?"  he  went  on, 
appealing  to  that  gentleman's  family.  "The  United 
States  are  exhibiting  more  interest  for  us  now  than  I 
can  excite  in  my  own  nation.  Only  Great  Britain  and 
the  Dutch  have  had  a  greater  number  of  ships  at  Singa 
pore  this  year  than  the  United  States.  I  tell  my  own 
countrymen,  frankly,  that  if  they  persist  in  neglecting 


258  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

the  present  golden  opportunity  of  reclaiming  and  con 
trolling  this  second-greatest  and  richest  Island  in  the 
world,  either  the  Americans  or  the  Netherlander  will 
grasp  the  prize.  As  an  Englishman  I  am  jealous  of 
any  form  of  Dutch  expansion  in  the  East  Indies — if 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Yon  Camp  will  excuse  my  plain  speak 
ing — but,  in  default  of  English  alacrity,  I  am  anxious 
to  have  Americans  interested  in  Sarawak.  Mr.  Effing- 
ham's  sojourn  here  has  given  me  great  gratification, 
and  I  am  peculiarly  pleased  at  what  he  and  our  friends, 
Mr.  Merton  and  Mr.  Yon  Camp,  are  doing  for  the  busi 
ness  interests  of  Borneo. — Ladies,  you  must  help  me  to 
persuade  him  to  a  longer  stay." 

"  They  have  not  yet  learned  to  be  as  fond  of  the  East 
Indies  as  Mrs.  Yon  Camp  and  I,"  suggested  Mrs.  Mer 
ton. 

"  Miss  Ankeroo's  school  and  mission  should  save  her 
from  home-sickness,  at  any  rate,"  insinuated  Mr.  Yon 
Camp,  bowing  to  that  fair  missionary. 

u  I  am  afraid  my  humble  educational  efforts  will  not 
avail  to  detain  my  friends  in  a  country  where  monkeys 
are  thought  to  be  men,"  said  Cousin  Sadie  ;  and  there 
was  general  merriment  at  this  irrepressible  note  of  her 
well-known  intolerance  for  the  theory  of  the  naturalist, 
Dr.  Hedland  laughing  as  cheerily  as  the  others. 

"I  appreciate  your  Excellency's  compliment  to  my 
country  and  myself, ' '  interposed  Mr.  Effingham,  inclin 
ing  his  head  ;  "  but  it  will  be  quite  impracticable  for  us 
to  remain  here  longer  than  at  first  proposed.  I  am 
fully  impressed,  however,  with  the  truth  of  all  that  has 
been  said  as  to  the  undeveloped  riches  of  Borneo,  and 
the  ease  with  which  they  can  be  commercially  utilized  ; 
and,  upon  our  return  to  the  United  States,  shall  exert 
myself  to  interest  both  the  government  and  our  mer 
cantile  classes  yet  more  actively  in  this  undoubtedly 


AT  ME.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  259 

great  field  for  both  national  and  individual  experiment. 
— By  that  time,"  he  added,  turning  with  a  smile  to 
wards  the  Doctor,  "I  hope  that  our  visiting  Commo 
dore  will  be  able  to  act  as  his  own  interpreter." 

"Ah!"  cried  Hedland,  throwing  up  his  hands  in 
mock  dismay  ;  "  there  's  another  cut  for  the  reclaimed 
sinner !  But  let  me  assure  you,  Mr.  Effingham — as  I 
seem  to  be  in  the  confessional  again ! — there  was  no 
treachery  in  the  interpreting  for  your  '  Constitution's  ' 
commander  at  Bruni.  The  Sultan  had  done  me  the 
honor  to  ask  my  services  in  the  case,  and  I  merely  in 
terpreted  as  the  parties  spoke.  I  was  blamed  by  your 
side  for  not  taking  active  part  with  it ;  practically  serv 
ing  as  an  American  ambassador  myself ;  and  that  was 
not  at  all  in  my  province." 

"When  I  came  to  know  you,  sir,  I  no  longer  enter 
tained  a  question  of  the  propriety  of  your  reserve," 
returned  Mr.  Effingham,  courteously. 

The  Kajah's  tact  to  avert  possible  awkward  effects 
from  this  turn  of  the  conversation,  was  shown  in  his 
prompt  arraignment  of  himself  for  having  introduced 
heavy  topics  of  State  to  the  prejudice  of  the  ladies' 
proper  share  in  the  table-talk.  Upon  this  hint  the  sev 
eral  gentlemen  devoted  their  colloquial  attentions  for  a 
while  to  their  gentler  companions,  the  usual  light  chat 
of  a  dinner-party  prevailed  generally  around  the  board, 
and  the  Chinese  servants  poured  the  wines  without  fear 
of  interrupting  critical  speeches. 

If  there  were  exceptions  to  the  spontaneous  social 
geniality  of  the  cozy  gathering,  they  could  be  found  in 
the  radically  contrasting  demeanors  of  the  youngest 
and  the  oldest  members  of  the  company — Miss  Effing- 
ham  and  the  naturalist.  Much  girlish  vivacity  could 
scarcely  have  been  expected  from  the  former,  where  all 
were  her  elders,  and  the  tenor  of  incident  and  remark 


260  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

naturally  adapted  itself  to  the  presence  of  an  important 
personage  ;  but,  even  these  subduing  influences  im 
perfectly  accounted  for  an  apparently  unconscious 
isolation  of  manner,  making  her  a  mere  passivity  of 
youthful  beauty.  Doctor  Hedland's  was  the  other 
extreme  ;  his  usual  dogmatic  style  of  address  and 
curtness  of  rejoinder  had  given  place  to  a  kind  of 
placatory  and  comparatively  garrulous  politeness,  that 
would  have  seemed  a  benevolent  change  but  for  a 
certain  uncomfortable  suggestion  of  spasmodic  effort 
in  it. 

Conversational  varieties  ranged  from  congratulations 
upon  the  mildness  with  which  the  wet-monsoon  had 
begun,  to  speculations  as  to  the  true  value  of  the 
enormous  diamond  said  to  have  been  obtained  by  the 
Sultan  of  Matan  from  the  Borneon  Golconda  of  Mount 
Landa.  Miss  Ankeroo's  citation  of  some  zoological 
spelling  from  the  Dictionary  of  Marsden  led  Mr.  Wil 
liamson  into  a  sketch  of  that  lexicographer's  career  in 
the  East  India  Company's  Sumatran  service  ;  and  Mr. 
Merton's  appeal  in  a  question  of  game-hunting  to  Mr. 
Brooke,  as  to  one  who  had  shot  woodcock  in  the  ruins 
of  Ephesus  and  hares  on  the  plains  of  Troy,  drew  from 
the  Rajah  on  account  of  the  Dyak  method  of  capturing 
the  native  stag,  or  "rusa,"  by  driving  it  into  a  snare- 
work  of  rattan.  The  married  ladies  compared  notes 
upon  the  docility  and  quick  understanding  of  China 
men  as  household  servitors,  and  the  Doctor  was  voluble 
to  the  mechanically  attentive  Abretta  about  Aru  birds 
of  paradise  and  the  mound-building  hens  of  Lombok. 
Only  the  Bruni  expedition  and  orang-outans  were  ex 
cluded  from  the  locally  suggested  topics  more  or  less 
discussed. 

When  there  was  a  concentration  of  subject  again,  it 
arose  from  the  Rajah's  remark  to  Mr.  Effingham,  that 


AT  ME.  BRETON'S  TABLE.  261 

he  had  felt  surprised  disappointment  at  the  indifference 
of  noted  philanthropists  to  his  work. 

"  I  am  anxious  to  attract  organized  capital  hither,  it 
is  true,"  he  went  on;  "for  that  is  essential  to  the 
development  of  the  splendid  material  resources  of  this 
Island  at  least  into  an  equality  with  those  of  Java. 
There  can  be  no  permanent  civilization  for  Borneo 
without  this.  No  general  truth  could  be  more  self- 
evident  ;  and  yet,  because  it  is  inseparable  from  any 
argument  I  can  address  effectively  to  the  Christian 
nations  whom  I  wish  to  enlist  in  the  redemption  of  a 
mighty  land  given  over  for  ages  to  helpless  barbarians, 
even  my  own  English  people  appear  to  believe  that  the 
establishment  of  another  East  India  Company  is  my 
principal,  if  not  sole,  aim. 

"  This  misapprehension  is  shown  by  my  very  friends. 
They  talk  to  me  about  making  myself  the  richest  com 
moner  in  the  world  ;  a  second  Arkwright— as  though 
my  motive  in  being  here  were  that  of  a  mere  pecuniary 
speculator  !  I  am  reminded  of  the  princely  state  main 
tained  by  the  brother  of  Doctor  Hedland  in  Lombok  ; 
the  splendor  of  Mr.  Duivenboden,  the  autocratic  Dutch 
"King  of  Ternate,"  and  the  growing  affluence  of  Cap 
tain  Yan  der  Beck  in  Ceram. 

"  But  it  has  never  entered  into  my  thoughts  either  to 
attain  wealth  by  my  position  here,  or  share  it  as  reaped 
by  others.  I  came  to  befriend  and  elevate  a  simple- 
hearted  race  of  men,  who  ask  but  the  countenance  and 
protection  of  Christian  benefactors  to  emerge  thankfully 
from  heathen  superstition,  slavery  and  degradation  into 
any  nobler  state  we  may  choose  to  fit  them  for.  I  hold 
my  rajahship  of  Sarawak  purely  to  afford  these  poor 
Dyaks  the  only  measure  of  justice  ever  attainable  by 
them  against  the  pitiless  extortions  and  enslavements  of 


262  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

their  worthless  Malay  pangerans  and  shereefs,  and 
would  willingly  resign  it  to-morrow  to  have  my  Country 
establish  here  her  equitable  laws  and  redeeming  civili 
zation. 

"All  this  I  have  fervently  reiterated  to  my  country 
men.  Lord  Aberdeen  may  correspond  by  the  ream  with 
M.  Dedel,  the  Netherlands'  minister,  about  the  Treaty 
of  1824  and  how  it  may  proportion  the  respective 
trading  prerogatives  of  their  two  governments  in  the 
Archipelago  ;  but  I  want  to  see  English  philanthropists 
— like  Sir  Fowell  Buxton,  for  instance — taking  a  moral 
interest  in  the  matter  and  giving  me  at  least  their  good 
wishes." 

As  the  speaker  warmed  with  theme  and  sentiment 
so  dear  to  his  heart,  he  seemed  to  forget  where  he  was, 
and  attained  an  intensification  of  tone  and  glance  mag 
netizing  his  hearers  into  breathless  attention. 

"A  nobler  ambition  could  not  possess  the  human 
mind,"  responded  the  American  merchant,  with  sym 
pathetic  fervor;  "but  you  must  reflect,  sir,  that  it  is 
unfortunately  anomalous  in  the  history  of  European  as 
cendancy  in  the  Orient.  From  commerce  to  conquest 
has  been  the  one  unvarying  tale  of  Christendom's  deal 
ings  with  indolent  Asia ;  and  you  can  scarcely  expect 
the  Buxtons  and  IVilberforces,  whose  credulity  suffered 
such  a  shock  from  the  futile  Niger  Expedition,  to  be 
lieve  at  once  that  a  fellow-countryman  is  single-minded 
in  challenging  their  help  against  a  worse  than  African 
slavery  in  the  ever-plundered  East  Indies.  In  fact,  I 
believe  that  I  may  say  without  national  conceit,  that 
the  true  spirit  of  your  actions  in  Borneo,  Mr.  Brooke, 
is  better  understood  in  my  country,  at  present,  than  in 
your  own.  Both  the  government  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States  are  familiar  with  the  tenor  of  your  work 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  263 

here,  and  I  am  confident  that  you  will  yet  receive  signal 
evidence  of  their  high  appreciation.  "* 

"  Next  to  the  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  Great 
Britain,  Mr.  Effing-ham,  I  should  value  the  friendship  of 
the  one  other  great  nation  speaking  the  same  language, 
worshiping  in  the  same  religion  and  characterized  by 
the  same  indomitable  energy.  Let  me  frankly  confess 
to  you,  that  in  importuning  the  ministry  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel  to  avail  itself  of  the  present  exceptional  opportunity 
here,  I  have  mentioned  the  United  States  as  being  no 
less  likely  than  the  Netherlands  to  seize  the  neglected 
chance.  It  was  an  American  missionary  at  Bruni,  Mr. 
Dickenson,  who  first  called  attention  to  Borneo's  rich 
ness  in  coal.  Our  vessels  in  these  seas  now  use  from 
one  hundred  to  three  hundred  thousand  tons  of  coal  a 
year,  all  of  which  must  be  brought  from  home  ;  yet  the 
western  coast  of  this  Island,  from  Bruni  southward,  is 
probably  almost  a  succession  of  coal-beds. 

"In  this  connection  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of 
naming  yourself,  sir,  in  my  dispatches  to  Lord  Aber 
deen,  as  showing,  by  your  concern  with  Mr.  Yon  Camp 
and  Mr.  Merton,  what  American  judgment  may  see  in 
the  commercial  practicabilities  of  our  Island.  Proba 
bly  such  a  portent  as  the  recent  visit  of  the  '  Constitu 
tion  '  to  the  Sultan  will  decide  my  government  at  least 
to  plant  its  flag  on  Labuan,  as  I  have  suggested,  and  so 
put  itself  into  a  position  to  dominate,  ultimately,  the 
whole  northwestern  coast.  You  see,  therefore,  that  I 
already  owe  much  to  American  enterprise,  and  have 
good  reason  to  thank  your  President  Tyler's  late  admin 
istration.  Is  the  same  policy  likely  to  be  followed  by 
the  present  cabinet  ?" 


*  Five  years  after  this  conversation  a  special  Envoy  from  Washington 
carried  a  letter  of  congratulation  to  the  Rajah  of  Sarawak  from  the 
President  of  the  United  States. 


264  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Mr.  Effingham's  manner  was  a  shade  less  cordial  in 
his  answer  to  this  question. 

"President  Polk,"  he  said,  "was  not  the  candidate 
of  the  political  party  to  which  I  belong,  and  I  am  not 
prepared  to  say  how  far  he  may  adopt  the  foreign 
policy  of  his  predecessor.  Yet  there  is  not  much  likeli 
hood  of  any  very  radical  departure  from  a  course  dic 
tated  by  the  paramount  commercial  interests  of  the 
country." 

"  Pardon  me  if  I  ask,  sir,  to  which  party  do  you 
belong  I"  interposed  Doctor  Hedland,  suddenly,  with  a 
touch  of  his  old,  unceremoniously  domineering  air. 

An  amused  look  in  the  Rajah's  eyes  invited  his  Ameri 
can  friend  to  humor  this  diversion,  and  Mr.  Effingham 
turned  his  own  dignified  glance  to  the  florid  counten 
ance  of  the  last  speaker. 

"  I  have  the  honor,  Doctor  Hedland,  to  be  a  member 
of  the  party  whose  political  principles  and  average 
associations  are  the  more  congenial  with  the  judgment 
and  tastes  of  American  Gentlemen." 

The  naturalist  perfectly  appeciated  the  intention  of 
this  peculiar  answer  to  waive  a  subject  too  immediately 
personal  for  the  occasion,  but  a  reckless  spirit  of  per 
versity  had  full  possession  of  him. 

"Am  I  to  understand,  then,  that  affiliation  with 
political  parties  in  the  United  States  is  a  matter  of 
social  selection  ?"  he  inquired,  with  an  aspect  of  sur 
prise. 

"With  all  but  the  professional  politicians,"  was  the 
cool  and  sweeping  response. 

"Live  and  learn  !"  ejaculated  the  Doctor,  shrugging 
his  broad  shoulders.  "  Here  is  an  aristocratic  principle 
that  exceeds  anything  known  to  us  in  Europe." 

"Yes— if  you  misapprehend,  or  only  partly  under 
stand  it,  sir." 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  265 

"Excuse  my  obtuseness ;  but  how  can  there  be  a 
more  extreme  system  of  class-distinction  in  the  popula 
tion  of  a  country  than  that  which  you  have  asserted 
for  your  republic  ?  An  aristocrat  by  politics  sounds  to 
me  like  the  aristocracy  of  France  before  the  Revolu 
tion." 

"  ^Nevertheless,  Doctor  Hedland,  such  is  the  aristoc 
racy  of  my  country." 

"  Well,  I  was  once  there  myself,"  sneered  the  Doctor, 
"  and  certainly  witnessed  some  phases  of  social  assump 
tion  about  equal  to  that  standard  !" 

Mrs.  Effingham  looked  startled  at  this  reminiscence, 
and  tried  to  catch  the  eye  of  her  husband  ;  but  that 
gentleman,  who  was  regarding  his  catechist  with  unruf 
fled  composure,  did  not  care  to  be  admonished. 

"  Foreigners  visiting  the  United  States  are  apt  to  be 
surprised,"  he  said,  "at  finding  the  same  social  order 
as  in  their  own  monarchial  countries,  when  they  had 
expected  to  have  their  vanity  propitiated  by  the  greet 
ings  of  a  universal  democracy.  For  instance,  an  Eng 
lishman  of  the  middle-class  of  English  society  discovers, 
that,  while  the  educational  and  pecuniary  standards 
of  the  best  social  class  recognizing  his  eligibility  are 
obviously  above  those  of  his  own  average  equals  at 
home,  he  is  yet  as  far  from  the  cognizance  of  a  certain 
higher,  if  much  smaller,  circle  of  American  society,  as 
from  that  which  is  hereditarily  inaccessible  to  him  in 
his  own  country.  Thus,  while  the  grade  into  which  he 
has  been  received  is  of  greater  comparative  pretentious 
ness  than  anything  in  his  normal  social  availabilities  in 
his  native  land,  the  gain  in  this  respect  makes  even  the 
more  bitterly  disappointing  to  him  the  inexorable  denial 
of  farther  aspiration,  and  he  goes  back  across  the  At 
lantic  an  eternal  hater  of  everything  American.  There 
was  your  Charles  Dickens— phenomenal  in  literary 


266  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

genius  as  he  is,  who,  under  the  common  delusion  of 
the  largest  class  of  our  foreign  visitors,  became  pre 
maturely  intoxicated  by  the  exceptional  homage  of  all 
American  classes  to  his  just  fame  as  a  writer,  and  un 
dertook  to  march  into  the  Presidential  Mansion  itself, 
with  a  sort  of  'hail,  fellow,  well  met!'  freedom,  to 
teach  Executive  and  cabinet  that  the  international 
copyright  scheme  of  the  author  of  '  Pickwick '  must  no 
longer  be  disregarded.  Well,  at  that  point  he  was 
himself  taught,  and  sharply,  that  even  a  u  Boz  "  might 
presume  too  far  upon  the  social  equalities  of  a  republic. 
So,  upon  going  home,  he  berated  us  hysterically  in 
'  Martin  Chuzzlewit ',— not  to  mention  his  '  American 
Notes.' 

"Now,  Doctor  Hedland,  I  put  it  to  your  own  sense 
of  justice — is  it  fair  for  you,  Europeans,  to  assume, 
gratuitously,  that  we,  Americans,  have  less  sense  of 
degrees  in  social  refinement  than  all  the  remainder  of 
mankind  ;  and  so  accuse  us  of  false  pretense,  because 
you  see,  upon  coming  amongst  us,  that  the  assumption 
has  egregiously  misled  you  ?" 

Hedland  was  too  acute  not  to  realize  that  he  was 
being  sarcastically  arraigned,  by  implication,  as  a  mid 
dle-class  English  representative  who  had  found  his 
undue  social  expectations  to  be  a  fallacy  in  America  1 
The  profoundly  silent  attention  of  the  company;  the 
irrepressible  twinkle  in  the  Rajah's  eyes,  and  the  now 
intensely  animated  expression  of  Abretta's  listening 
face;  did  not  tend  to  make  him  more  philosophical 
under  the  lecture  he  had  wantonly  brought  upon  him 
self. 

"We  have  digressed  from  the  real  point  at  issue  be 
tween  us,  Mr.  Effingham,"  said  he,  in  supercilious 
dismissal  of  the  general  question.  "  You  have  asserted 
that  adherence  to  party  in  American  politics  is  decided 


AT  MR.  MEETON'S  TABLE.  267 

by  social  preference.  I  have  replied  that  such  a  prin 
ciple  is  more  essentially  aristocratic  than  any  perma 
nent  phase  of  European  aristocracy.  You  seem  to 
concede  as  much;  and  now  I  am  trying  to  ascertain 
from  you,  wherein  is  the  consistency  between  such  a 
state  of  things  and  the  pretension  to  democratic  equality 
upon  which  the  whole  distinctive  national  character  of 
the  United  States  is  avowedly  based  ?" 

"I  will  do  my  best  to  demonstrate  that  consistency 
to  you,  sir,"  resumed  the  merchant,  coolly  deliberate  as 
before.  "The  first  principle  of  our  republican  theory 
of  government  is,  that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal ; 
in  other  words,  that  a  democracy  is  the  aboriginal  con 
dition  of  the  whole  human  race.  To  construe  this  liter 
ally,  would  be  to  abrogate  every  form  of  individual 
authority  ;  since  no  one  individual  could  then  govern 
any  other  save  by  usurpation,  either  direct  or  construc 
tive.  It  must  be  qualified,  therefore,  by  practicability, 
to  mean,  that,  although  no  man  has  any  inherent  su 
periority  over  another  by  the  circumstances  of  birth, 
every  man  has  an  equal  right  with  his  neighbor  to  gain 
what  ascendancy  he  can  by  the  free  development,  exer 
cise  and  cultivation  of  his  any,  or  every,  natural 
capacity  for  it. 

"If  he  is  virtuous,  industrious  and  honorably  ambi 
tious,  while  others  are  vicious,  indolent  and  groveling, 
the  logic  of  natural  law  will  give  him  consideration, 
acquisition  and  moral  predominance.  If  he  labors  to 
be  wise,  while  others  are  content  with  foolishness,  his 
gravitation  to  power,  in  one  form  or  another,  will  be  as 
sure  as  that  of  the  others  to  subjection.  If  he  cultivates 
a  noble  pride  in  himself,  to  master  the  refinements  of 
education,  cherish  an  abhorrence  of  all  meannesses  of 
action,  speech  and  thought,  and  habituate  his  mind  to 
moral  heroism  and  his  heart  to  Christian  courtesy; 


268  THEEE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

while  others  elect  to  remain  s%lf-indulgently  ignorant, 
coarse,  morally  unstable  and  boorish ;  he  will  become 
Nature's  aristocrat  as  distinguished  over  Nature's 
democrats.  He  has  only  done  with  his  natural  gifts 
what  all  the  others  might,  by  equal  pains,  sacrifices  and 
self-discipline,  have  done  with  theirs  ;  (for  in  every 
human  composition  not  abnormally  perverted  there  is 
some  good  potentiality  susceptible  of  culture  into  emi 
nence  by  sufficient  honesty  and  industry  of  endeavor  ;) 
and  is  entitled,  by  'Heaven's  first  law,'  to  be  'greater 
than  the  rest. ' 

"Starting  from  the  proposition  that  all  men  are,  as 
you  may  say,  born  democrats,  and  that  each  and  every 
one  may  properly  wish  to  elevate  themselves  honorably 
into  Nature's  aristocracy,  the  republic  of  the  United 
States  places  within  the  reach  of  its  meanest  subject 
the  means  of  making  the  most  of  his  every  moral,  intel 
lectual  and  social  instinct  and  capacity  of  self-elevation. 

"  A  certain  proportion  of  the  population  has  chosen, 
through  all  its  generations,  to  make  the  most  of  these 
means — and  this  is  the  American  aristocracy.  Another 
proportion  has  been  later,  less  energetic,  in  the  same 
course  ;  and  this  is  the  American  middle-class,  a  high 
element  of  which  is  perpetually  assimilating  to  the 
former.  Third  and  last  come  those  who  are  the  latest 
and  slowest ;  recruited  chiefly  from  the  lowest  foreign 
emigration ;  yet  even  amongst  these  the  spirit  of  self- 
elevation  is  never  without  some  illustrations. 

"Now  what  I  call  our  aristocracy  and  our  middle- 
class  are  always  more  numerous,  in  combination,  than 
the  third  division ;  and,  as  they  retain  their  relative 
proportions  through  all  the  national  growth,  have  it 
permanently  in  their  power  to  decide  the  fates  of  politi 
cal  parties.  Farthermore,  of  the  two  great  parties 
always  to  be  found  in  the  United  States,  neither  ever 


AT  ME.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  269 

has  its  root  in  the  lowest  social  class,  although  the  lat 
ter  enjoys  all  the  political  privileges  of  the  highest,  and 
often  holds  the  balance  of  power.  While  Democracy  is 
the  undisputed  parent  of  both  parties, — with  whatever 
subdivisions  itself,  occasionally,  may  have, — and  both 
exist  upon  fundamentally  democratic  principles,  it  is  by 
an  instinctive  tacit  agreement  of  the  lowest  and  highest 
social  strata  that  the  transitional  middle-class  invaria 
bly  dictates  the  practical  formulation  of  either.  In 
this  great  class, — at  its  one  extreme  assimilating  stead 
ily,  if  slowly,  with  the  higher  segregation,  and  at  the 
other  as  constantly  receiving  gradual  assimilations  from 
the  lower, — lie  the  average  political  knowledge,  sagacity 
and  trained  familiarization,  which  can  be  most  safely 
trusted  alike  for  the  consideration  due  to  the  just  inter 
ests  of  the  humblest  voter,  and  the  intellectual  and 
moral  propitiation  of  the  most  dignified. 

"Here  we  arrive,  Doctor  Hedland,  at  the  principle 
of  'social  selection'  we  were  talking  about. — The  two 
parties  arising  under  these  conditions  are  simply  parts 
of  the  one  primitive  American  democratic  body  politic, 
differentiating  in  accordance  with  the  respective  educa 
tional  and  associative  predilections  of  the  two  extremes 
of  the  middle  social  class.  One  party  looks  chiefly 
downward,  with  a  jealous  care  to  the  preservation  of 
the  original  broad  foundation  of  American  democracy  ; 
the  other  as  habitually  looks  upward,  in  restless  intel 
lectual  and  moral  aspiration  to  something  ever  higher 
in  the  nation's  superstructure.  The  two,  together, 
equally  assure  national  stability  and  national  growth  ; 
but  they  interchange  social  affiliations  according  as  one 
or  the  other  is  the  more  immediately  identified  with 
what  the  highest  national  intelligence  esteems  to  be  the 
most  pressing  present  interest  of  the  Republic. 

"  Thus,  in  periods  varying  from  ten  to  twenty  years, 


270  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

you  may  see  the  choicest  social  element  in  the  United 
States— practically  all  of  the  class  of  highest  culture 
and  three-fourths  of  the  middle  class — transferring 
itself  from  one  of  these  parties  to  the  other ;  in  effect 
so  denuding  that  which  it  has  left  of  all  respectability 
as  to  make  farther  individual  adherence  to  it  a  positive 
social  reproach.  Thence  arises  the  proper  distinction 
of  '  the  party  of  Gentlemen  ;'  the  political  organization 
immediately  favored,  not  alone  by  the  wealth,  but,  by 
the  noblest  intellect,  grandest  moral  sentiment,  and 
most  refined  social  instinct  of  the  country. 

"But,  really,  your  Excellency,  and  our  good  friends 
all  around,  I  must  crave  pardon  for  such  scarcely  man 
nerly  prolixity,"  apologized  Mr.  Effingham,  suddenly 
realizing  that  he  had  been  betrayed  by  his  patriotic 
energy  into  an  astounding  disregard  of  time  and  the 
polite  conventions. 

"  You  are  much  more  than  excusable  sir : — indeed  on 
my  own  behalf  I  thank  you — for  favoring  us  with  so 
comprehensive  an  insight  of  the  philosophy  of  republi 
can  society  and  politics,"  replied  the  Rajah,  as  sincerely 
as  courteously.  "Doctor  Hedland,"  he  added,  amia 
bly,  "has  made  us  all  his  debtors  by  inducing  you  to 
give  us  light  on  a  subject  that  certainly  seems  to  have 
suffered  grievously  from  the  world's  prevalent  misun 
derstanding  of  it." 

"  Well,  but,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  do  you  know  I 
cannot  yet  see  clearly  where  the  particular  '  social  selec 
tion  '  principle  has  been  demonstrated  by  our  American 
friend?  He  has  shown  how  intellectual  and  moral 
preferences  have  their  influence  in  American,  as  in  all 
civilized,  politics ;  but  I  don't  grasp  his  logic  of  an 
American  '  aristocracy  '  in  politics,"  persisted  the  nat 
uralist,  who  had  listened  to  the  whole  argument  with 
curious  attention. 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  271 

"The  term  'aristocracy'  was  your  own,  sir,"  Mr. 
Effingham  reminded  him;  uand  I  adopted  it  merely 
because  you  seemed  tenacious  of  it.  My  purpose  was, 
after  premising  that  any  citizen  of  the  United  States 
can  elevate  himself  to  the  highest  social  grade,  if  he 
chooses  to  employ  the  ample  available  means  therefor, 
to  show  that  the  best  class  of  American  society  is  per 
petually  a  political  force  rectifying  ultimately  whatever 
is  seriously  unsound  in  our  party-life,  and  that  it 
always  maintains  its  cohesion  in  one  party  or  the 
other,  to  make  that  the  party  of  gentlemen. 

uOnce  be  the  organization  distinguished  as  such  to 
popular  apprehension,  and,  whatsoever  its  past  minor 
ity,  no  law  of  nature  is  surer  than  that  it  will  gradually 
attract,  even  by  instinctive  social  affinity,  all  the  finest 
thinkers,  truest  moralists,  and  most  refined  domestic 
characters  in  American  life.  The  well-bred  son  of  a 
cultured  family  belongs  to  it  before  he  is  old  enough  to 
judge  between  political  issues  for  himself,  because  it  is 
the  party  of  his  kindred  and  associates  ;  the  educated, 
socially  aspiring  scion  of  unpolished  parents  turns  to  it 
for  the  company  most  congenial  to  his  bettered  intel 
lectual  and  social  capacities  ;  even  the  matured  nature 
innately  superior  to  its  customary  conditions  of  educa 
tion  and  society,  is  glad  at  last  to  experience  the 
enhanced  private  consideration  incident  to  a  public 
identification  with  it.  Then  comes  decisive  victory  at 
the  ballot-box ;  a  grand,  peaceful  revolution,  to  be  fol 
lowed  by  signal  reinvigoration  of  every  nerve  of  national 
prosperity  and  national  greatness." 

"And  then—  ?"  pursued  the  Doctor,  obstinately. 

"After  a  period  of  beneficent  ascendancy,  this  party 
declines  in  moral  vigor  if  its  leasehold  of  power  is  too 
easily  retained,  and  its  integrity  becomes  more  and 
more  impaired  by  the  accession  of  whosoever  are  un- 


272  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

scrupulously  ambitious  and  greedy  for  political  prefer 
ment.  Then  begins  its  rapid  decline ;  one  after  another, 
men  eminent  in  private  station  are  known  to  have 
fallen  quietly  away  from  it ;  its  veteran  early  leaders 
withdraw  slowly  into  voluntary  retirement  before  its 
new  partisans  ;  the  names  of  all  notorious  political 
adventurers  begin  to  be  associated  with  it.  In  short, 
there  has  ensued  an  amalgamation  of  the  baser  ele 
ments  of  the  two  parties.  The  result  is  practically  a 
new  party  of  mere  spoilsmen,  and  to  confront  it  arises 
a  reorganization  of  the  high  element  it  has  alienated, 
with  the  purest  portion  of  the  former  general  opposi 
tion.  There  is  always  short  thrift  in  the  United  States 
for  a  party  of  this  description.  Seldom  does  it  survive 
to  a  second  battle  of  the  ballots,  never  to  a  third. 
Again  the  best  social  sentiment  shows  its  power  by 
destroying  what  had  finally  abused  its  making,  and 
brings  to  redeeming  supremacy  the  fresh  political  force 
it  has  regenerated." 

Besides  what  interest  they  were  able  to  take  in  a 
topic  so  uncomfortably  weighty  for  table-talk,  the  little 
party  at  Mr.  Merton's  board  found  a  certain  exceptional 
zest  for  it  in  a  common  perception  of  Doctor  Hedland's 
seemingly  wanton  disposition  to  atone  to  himself  for 
his  newly  placatory  spirit  toward  the  Kajah  and  others 
by  being  almost  rudely  aggressive  in  his  manner  to  the 
American  gentleman.  From  the  chief  guest  down 
ward,  nobody  was  sorry  to  have  the  captious  dogmatist 
fairly  talked  out  of  argument  on  ground  of  his  own 
perverse  insistence.  Therefore,  even  the  ladies  had  not 
the  sense  of  conversational  exclusion  they  might  other 
wise  have  been  disconcerted  by,  and  Mr.  Brooke  and 
his  friendly  staff  scarcely  disguised  their  quietly  amused 
content  at  the  naturalist's  self-provoked  visitation  of 
American  republicanism. 


AT  MR.  MERTON'S  TABLE.  273 

The  Doctor  himself  was  conscious  enough  of  being 
the  conspicuous  social  failure  of  the  evening,  and  felt 
anything  but  indifferent  to  that  fact ;  while  the  good, 
practical  sense  always  underlying  his  petulant  con 
trarieties  of  demeanor,  made  him  clearly  aware  that  he 
had  trenched  upon  the  patience  of  the  merchant  and 
whole  company  nearly  to  the  verge  of  boorishness. 
Taking  time  to  realize  this,  he  was  not  the  man  to  spare 
himself  in  confession  of  it. 

"With  the  permission  of  the  Rajah  and  our  friends,  I 
must  shake  hands  with  you,  my  dear  sir,"  he  exclaimed, 
rising  to  offer  that  manual  greeting  across  the  table  to 
the  nowise  reluctant  Mr.  Effingham.  "Thank  you.  I 
don't  know  that  you  ought  to  regret,  much,  an  oppor 
tunity  for  vindicating  your  country  so  effectively 
against  much  ignorant  criticism ;  but  I  surely  do 
regret,  for  myself,  that  I  secured  every  sympathy  for 
you,  at  my  own  just  expense,  by  my  manner  of  chal 
lenge.  The  fact  is,  friends  all,"  he  continued,  bowing 
gravely  around  as  he  resumed  his  chair,  "I  am  nothing 
if  not  apologetic  to-day.  .This  whole  life  of  ours  in 
Borneo  is  becoming  more  and  more  a  nightmare  to  me, 
in  which  one  hour  finds  me  half  disposed  to  turn  good, 
honest  savage  at  once,  and  the  next  brings  me  to  intol 
erable  self-disgust  that  I  seem  to  myself  so  near  that 
consummation  already." 

An  applausive,  reassuring  ripple  of  friendly  laughter, 
and  a  general  proffer  of  the  courtesies  of  wine  by  the 
gentlemen,  pleasantly  concluded  this  episode.  Then 
general  conversation  held  sway  again  until  it  was  time 
for  the  company  to  disperse. 

No  separate  withdrawal  of  the  ladies  occurred  until 
that  unwillingly  ushered  by  Mrs.  Merton  for  the 
resumption  of  hats  and  wrappers,  when  the  front  of  the 
house  and  the  trees  on  the  descending  path  to  the 


274  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

river's  bank  were  seen  to  be  picturesquely  illuminated 
with  Chinese  lanterns.  Soon  the  gentlemen  joined 
them  on  the  glowing  veranda ;  whence,  after  due  part 
ing  compliments  to  his  hosts  and  the  others,  the  Rajah 
and  his  two  friends  started  to  go  down  to  the  waterside 
between  rows  of  obsequious  native  torch-bearers.  In 
bidding  good-night  to  Mrs.  Effingham  and  her  daughter, 
Doctor  Hedland  took  occasion  to  remark,  confidentially 
and  significantly : 

"  I  can  report  to  our  young  patient  at  '  the  Grove,' 
ladies,  that  I  have  never  known  how  to  appreciate  your 
country  justly  until  to-night.  Miss  Effingham,  you 
have  good  reason  to  be  proud  of  your  father,  as  I  see 
that  you  are.  Madame,  your  husband  is  the  most  genu 
ine  aristocrat  I  have  ever  met.  Your  servant,  Miss 
Ankeroo  ;  and,  ladies,  good-night. 

With  this  partly  enigmatical  speech  he  turned 
sharply  away  to  follow  to  the  Rajah's  boat ;  leaving 
mother  and  daughter  confused  to  decide  whether  such 
an  angular  mortal  could  really  pay  an  earnest  compli 
ment,  or  had  been  true  to  his  average  sardonic  vein  to 
the  last. 

It  took  not  long  for  the  remaining  family-prahus  to 
receive  them  and  the  other  departing  guests  ;  and  the 
rowers  at  either  end  pushed  off  into  their  fitfully  gleam 
ing,  plashing  homeward  way,  to  the  cheery  farewells  of 
the  hospitable  Mertons. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

COLONEL  DARYL'S    DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE. 

IN  the  American  household  there  had  been  gradually 
evoked  from  the  domestic  materials  at  command  a  sys 
tem  of  family-life  at  once  orderly  and  unconstrained, 
practical  and  ideal.  As  a  garden  of  tasteful  plan  and 
rare  beauty  of  arboreal  and  floral  combinations  now 
occupied  the  formerly  rank  enclosure  fronting  the  man 
sion  ;  created,  with  wonderful  celerity,  by  an  intelligent 
and  graceful  exaction  of  all  possible  cultivated  effect 
from  Nature's  wildest  indiscrimination  of  fertility  ;  so 
within  the  house  an  instinctively  adaptive  civilized  in 
telligence  had  steadily  and  quietly  disciplined  the  most 
primitive  and  unaccustomed  of  subjective  agencies  into 
the  harmonious  machinery  of  a  well-appointed,  system 
atic,  and  even  measurably  luxurious,  Christian  home. 
The  Chinese  servants,  at  first  so  unpromising  to  Ber- 
ner's  Lutheran  prejudices,  that  the  old  major-domo 
could  not  be  persuaded  permanently  from  shipboard 
until  Cousin  Sadie  and  Mr.  Brooke's  veteran,  Peter, 
had  somewhat  Anglicized  their  speech  and  manners, 
were  now  models  of  mechanical  efficiency  in  their 
various  duties,  and  frequently  developed  valuable  inge 
nuity  therein.  One  of  them,  indeed,  whom  the  quickly 
converted  Swiss  soon  selected  to  be  his  chief  confiden 
tial  coadjutor,  in  place  of  Ambrose  relegated  to  the 
gardening,  became  so  expert  in  resources  for  any  domes 
tic  emergency,  whether  of  larder,  laundry,  or  scullery, 
that  his  reflective  "  Me  can  do,"  or  "Me  can  no  do," 
was  always  accepted  as  decisive  of  the  utmost  human 
practicabilities  of  the  occasion. 
275 


276  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

A  similar  process  of  comfortable  adjustment,  from 
primarily  difficult  circumstance  to  ultimately  smooth 
development  of  the  best  of  everything,  went  on 
throughout  the  whole  household  economy.  Life  in  the 
family  rested  not  at  mere  placid  facility  of  exotic  exis 
tence,  but  matured  equably  to  what  vitality  of  charac 
teristic  individual  endeavor  and  collective  social 
beneficence  was  possible  for  it  even  in  such  a 
limited  situation.  Husband,  wife,  daughter  and 
cousin  had  respective  potential  activities  for  each 
day,  to  contribute  to  the  common  relief;  and  were 
in  unison  for  whatever  outward  good  could  be  ac 
complished  by  them  as  a  household. 

After  the  gardening  operations  of  Ambrose,  and  the 
Chinese  vegetable-planting,  had  made  the  immediate 
grounds  of  the  mansion  unfit  for  miscellaneous  intru 
sion,  a  new  cottage  was  constructed  outside  of  the 
palisade,  on  the  slope  toward  the  native  town,  for 
Miss  Ankeroo's  mission-school,  and  therein  the  lady 
pursued  her,  chosen  vocation  with  unflagging  zeal. 
But  even  she  held  no  higher  place  in  the  affectionate 
reverence  of  the  poor,  crowded  souls  of  the  "cam- 
pong"  than  the  Rana  Sirani — Christian  princess — as 
they  named  Mrs.  Effingham,— who  not  only  heeded 
their  every  appeal  at  her  gates,  but  had  practicable 
paths  made  that  she  might  go  to  the  old  and  helpless, 
in  their  own  quarters,  on  occasions  of  special  distress. 

Thus  the  family  were  leading  a  life  of  which  they 
might  become  very  fond  in  time  ;  in  fact  much  enjoyed 
already ;  and  the  elder  members,  at  any  rate,  did  not 
contemplate  the  approach  of  its  conclusion  with  any 
disposition  to  hasten  the  latter.  Mrs.  Effingham,  it  is 
true,  had  begun  to  experience  some  anxiety  at  a  certain 
languor  of  manner  lately  coming  over  her  daughter ; 
nor  was  she  quite  at  ease  in  observing  that  the  amend- 


COLONEL  DARYUS  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE.    277 

merit  seemingly  given  to  her  husband's  health  by  their 
earlier  experiences  of  the  genial  climate,  no  longer 
went  on.  The  child  inherited  some  of  the  constitu 
tional  predispositions  of  the  father,  and  the  wife  and 
mother  felt  frequent  unspoken  misgivings  for  them, 
when  remembering  what  she  had  read  and  heard  of  the 
insidious  properties  some  had  found  in  the  balmy  lassi 
tudes  of  the  Tropics. 

"My  dear,"  said  Mr.  Effingham,  coming  into  her 
room,  on  the  afternoon  following  that  of  the  dinner 
party,  with  several  opened  letters  in  his  grasp  and  a 
troubled  look  on  his  face,  " — my  dear,  do  your  letters 
say  anything  about  the  fire  in  New  York  ?" 

His  wife,  who  had  been  reading  her  own  latest  mail 
from  relatives  and  friends  at  home,  gazed  at  him  inquir-i 
ingly  and  shook  her  head  : 

"No  ;  not  a  word  of  such  a  thing.  Has  there  been 
a  fire  there  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  and  a  very  large  one.  What  is  the  latest  date 
you  have  there  ?"  he  asked,  taking  a  chair  and  glancing 
over  her  shoulder. 

"  Ada  Benton's  is  the  latest— July  fifteenth." 

"  Ah  !  that  was  several  days  before  the  occurrence," 
commented  the  merchant.  "  In  forwarding  our  mail, 
Dodge  writes  to  me  that  he  has  just  seen  a  clipper  cap 
tain  straight  from  New  York,  who  reports,  that,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  July,  a  great  fire  burned  five  millions' 
worth  of  property  in  Broadway,  Exchange  Place,  Stone 
and  Broad  streets." 

"Some  of  it  was  yours !"  exclaimed  the  lady,  reflect 
ing  his  perturbed  aspect  and  tone. 

"Yes,  my  .dear,  I.  am  a  loser  ;  very  seriously,  too,  if 
any  of  the  insurances  default  in  the  general  calamity." 

"Richard,  let  us  return  at  once." 

The  husband  could  appreciate  this  immediate  wifely 


278  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

readiness  to  consider  nothing  but  his  own  possible 
impulse  to  hurry  forthwith  towards  the  scene  of  his 
reported  misfortune. 

"Not  quite  at  once,"  he  said,  his  countenance  relax 
ing  under  a  gratified  smile;  "I  think  we  may  venture 
to  stay  the  remaining  time  allotted,  as  that  will  not  be 
very  long ;  and,  after  all,  the  loss  of  a  few  buildings 
need  not  bankrupt  me." 

"But  it  may  be  serious,  you  have  said,"  continued 
the  sympathetic  wife.  "If  we  were  not  here  with  you, 
would  you  not  be  anxious  at  least  to  get  within  shorter 
mailing  distance  of  your  agents,  without  delay  V  I  am 
sure  you  would.  Then  why  stay  here,  in  needless  sus 
pense,  when  we  are  so  ready  to  start  at  any  moment  ?" 

"  At  any  rate,  we  can  wait  for  another  mail,  Julia," 
rejoined  the  merchant,  lightly— "  unless, "  he  added, 
with  a  questioning  inflection,  "you  are  at  last  growing 
tired  of  living  in  a  summer-house  in  a  botanical  garden  ?" 

"  On  the  contrary,  it  is  pleasanter  for  me  every  day," 
she  replied,  earnestly. — "But,  Kichard,  you  do  not 
seem  so  well  as  you  did,  and  Abretta  is  not  like  her^ 
self.  Perhaps  this  place  is  not  good  for  either  of  you." 

Mr.  Effingham  looked  more  grave  again ;  but  rather 
with  doubt  than  anxiety. 

"I  think  Borneo  agrees  with  me  very  well,  my  dear, 
and  so  it  seemed  to  do  with  Abretta  until  that  hand 
some  English  playmate  of  hers  came  back  a  wounded 
hero.  I  suspect  that  the  child  is  giving  way  to  a  bit  of 
schoolgirlish  romantic  sentiment.  Not  a  very  alarm 
ing  case,  probably,  but  one  that  we  must  not  encourage 
to  become  so.  You  and  Sadie  cried  a  little  with  her,  I 
recollect,  wrhen  the  report  was  that  the  young  man  had 
been  killed.  That  wras  but  natural  and  right — he  had 
been  like  our  own  boy  amongst  us.  We  would  prefer, 
too,  that  our  girl  should  be  open  and  honest  with  all 


COLONEL  DARTDS  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE.    279 

her  feelings,  and  not  affect  a  mature  coquette's  airs  of 
indifference  to  masculine  fates.  But  as  our  remaining 
sojourn  in  the  East  is  to  be  so  short,  and  it  is  not  cer 
tain  that  we  shall  ever  meet  any  of  these  foreign  friends 
of  ours  again,  it  may  be  wise,  perhaps,  for  you,  my 
dear,  to  see  that  the  boy  and  the  girl  do  not  imagine 
themselves  quite  broken-hearted  at  parting." 

Mrs.  Emngham  glanced  alternately  from  his  face  to 
her  letters  while  he  spoke,  with  some  appearance  of 
nervous  apprehension.  When  he  paused,  however,  her 
eyes  instantly  resumed  their  ordinary  tranquil  expres 
sion,  and  sought  his,  responsively. 

"Your  idea  may  be  only  a  continuation  of  mine,  after 
all,"  said  she.  "Physical  enervation,  in  a  degree, 
makes  any  one  more  sensitive  to  the  slightest  emotional 
influences,  and  perhaps  Abretta's  has  a  tendency  to  ex 
aggerate,  in  her,  every  newly-touched  sensibility." 

"Your  womanly  experience,  Julia,  should  qualify 
you  to  judge  of  that,  much  more  comprehensively  than 
I.  It  was  a  great  surprise  to  me  when  our  girl 
exhibited  such  very  strong  feeling  at  the  first  news 
from  Bruni.  As  you  say,  it  may  have  been  because 
her  nerves  were  not  in  their  usual  elastic  health.  Your 
judgment  shall  be  mine,  and  I'll  not  disregard  your 
doubts  of  the  fitness  of  the  climate  for  Abretta.  After 
the  next  American  mail  we  will  prepare  to  leave 
Borneo  without  delay." 

As  he  finished  speaking,  the  merchant  left  his  chair 
and  moved  towards  the  door  by  which  he  had  entered. 

"I  must  answer  some  of  these  letters  for  the 
schooner  returning  to  Singapore,"  he  explained.  "Do 
not  be  worried,  my  dear,  about  our  share  in  the  fire. 
At  the  largest,  it  will  merely  oblige  me  to  invest  some 
thing  the  less,  at  first,  in  the  North-Borneo  Company 
I  hope  to  organize  on  our  return  to  New  York." 


280  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Then  he  went  out ;  and  the  wife,  no  longer  heeding 
her  Correspondence  on  the  table,  rested  an  elbow  upon 
the  latter  and  bowed  her  forehead  to  the  support  of  a 
shading  hand.  Did  her  husband  think  more  on  a  cer 
tain  subject  than  he  had  yet  confided  to  her  ?  Had 
she,  herself,  any  ever  so  indefinite  intuitions  of  it  which 
she  neglected  to  realize  ?  She  was  conscious  of  there 
being  something  voluntary  in  the  hazy  vacillations  of 
her  mind  relative  to  the  whole  sequence  of  the  meetings 
with  Belmore  in  Batavia  and  his  uncle  in  Kuchin  ;  for 
of  the  ensuing  familiar  acquaintance  and  its  episodes 
she  had  chosen  to  be  scarcely  more  than  a  passively 
friendly  observer.  She  had  not  tried  even  to  see  below 
the  sunny  surface  of  their  present  aspects  ;  much  less 
to  conjecture  future  results  for  them.  Was  it  a  prompt 
ing  of  unrecognized  instinctive  purpose,  or  merely  a 
weak  unsettlement  of  mental  energies,  that  had  caused 
her  to  drift  so  insensately  with  the  current  since  those 
days  in  Singapore  ? 

Berner  knocked  at  a  door,  unheard,  and  then  came 
in,  cautiously : 

"  Colonel  Daryl  begs  to  see  Madame." 

"  Say  to  him  that  I  will  come  out  immediately." 

The  Swiss  bowed  and  withdrew.  Madame  looked 
into  a  small  mirror  on  the  partition  for  a  moment,  and 
then  followed  to  the  room  in  which  Mr.  Dodge  and 
Cousin  Sadie  have  once  been  seen  together. 

' '  I  must  apologize  for  an  unceremonious  afternoon  call, 
Mrs.  Effingham  ;  unless  you  can  find  enough  excuse  for 
it  in  the  irregular  weather  of  the  wet  monsoon,  and  the 
limited  leisure  of  an  invalid's  nurse,"  said  the  Colonel, 
after  a  stately  handshaking,  and  betaking  to  chairs. 

"  You  are  welcome,  sir,  without  qualification,  both  in 
your  own  person  and  as  bringing  us  news — good  news,  I 
hope,  of  your  nephew." 


COLONEL  DARYDS  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE.    281 

"Ah,  thank  you.  Edwin  is  convalescing  as  youth 
only  can,  and  I  am  the  bearer  of  his  compliments  to 
your  family,  with  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the 
friendly  interest  you  have  all  shown  for  him  in  his 
mishap." 

"We  have  been  most  anxious  about  him." 

"  He  fully  appreciates  your  great  kindness,  I  can 
assure  you.  May  I  be  allowed  to  express  the  hope  that 
Mr.  Effingham,  your  daughter,  and  Miss  Ankeroo  re 
main  as  well  as  my  friends  of  'the  Grove'  had  the 
pleasure  of  believing  them  to  be  last  evening  at  Mr. 
Merton's  ?" 

Mrs.  Effingham  felt  like  smiling  at  this  pomp  of  polite 
ness  in  her  military  brother-in-law,  but  answered  him 
sedately  in  his  own  vein  : 

"They  will  be  nattered  to  hear  of  your  remembrance 
of  them.  My  husband  is  at  urgent  letters  of  business  ; 
my  cousin  may,  probably,  be  found  yet  in  her  school- 
house  ;  and  Abretta  is  on  a  call  at  Mrs.  Yon  Camp's.  A 
dinner-party  in  Kuchin  does  not  entail  such  fatigue  for 
the  next  day  as  would  one  in  London  or  New  York. 
But  we  had  not  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  at  Mr.  Mer 
ton's,  Colonel  Daryl." 

"It  would  have  gratified  me  to  be  there,  madame, 
had  I  been  longer  returned  to  Kuchin,  and  more  confi 
dent  that  Edwin's  urging  did  not  exaggerate  his  fitness 
to  be  left  alone.  From  talk  at  the  breakfast-table,  I 
infer  that  your  dining  resolved  itself  into  a  kind  of 
international  debate." 

The  lady  laughed  pleasantly,  and  the  Colonel's  griz 
zled  brows  lifted  slightly  with  an  expression  of  whimsi 
cal  humor. 

"  When  we  were  not  Orientalists  we  were  politicians,  I 
am  afraid — that  is,  the  gentlemen  were  ;  and  as  for  the 
ladies,  most  of  them  were  old  and  grave  enough  rather 


282  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

to  enjoy  the  novelty  of  not  being  expected  to  withdraw 
from  the  ta,ble  so  soon  as  the  gentlemen  were  ready  to 
discuss  matters  not  wholly  trivial.1" 

"  The  Rajah  and  Mr.  Williamson  show  a  disposition 
to  compliment  my  friend,  Hedland,  somewhat  ironi 
cally,  upon  his  success  in  calling  out  the  conversational 
powers  of  Mr.  Effingham,"  said  the  Colonel,  smiling. 

"My  husband  saw  that  he  wras  bent  upon  mistimed 
finical  controversy,  and  deliberately  averted  endless 
irritating  dialogue  by  summary  monologue,"  said  Mrs. 
Effingham,  with  a  shade  of  haughtiness. 

"  To  be  strictly  just  to  a  man  like  Doctor  Hedland," 
returned  Colonel  Daryl,  coldly  grave  again,  "we  must 
judge  him  by  no  common  standard.  Habits  of  wander 
ing  about  the  world  without  social  object  have  made 
him  an  uneasy  subject  for  conventional  society.  Such 
a  man's  personal  likes  and  dislikes  are  not  always  to  be 
inferred  from  his  apparent  suavities  and  pugnacities. 
Indeed,  he  is  quite  too  independent  to  assume  either 
manner  toward  those  whom  he  dislikes.  Of  them  he  is 
practically  oblivious ;  so,  if  you  hear  him  talk,  at  all, 
either  of,  or  to,  any  person,  no  matter  how  harshly,  you 
may  take  it  as  a  sure  sign  that  he  does  not  wholly  dis 
like  the  one  in  question.  Now  he  positively  admires 
your  husband,  madame.  He  intended  it  as  a  high  com 
pliment  when  he  said  to  me,  only  this  morning  :  '  That 
American  is  the  proudest  man  in  the  world. ' .  Mono 
logue,  on  any  given  subject  above  the  commonplace,  is 
his  own  cherished  method  of  crushing  out  all  contro 
versy.  To  use  it  successfully  against  himself  wras  to 
gain  his  highest  respect.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
invidiousness  in  his  characteristic  tribute  to  Mr.  Effing- 
ham  ;  for  it  means  no  implication  of  unwarranted 
assumption.  It  is  his  way  of  describing  a  dignity  of 
private  character  so  well-founded  and  justly  self-as- 


COLONEL  DARYVS  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE.    283 

sured,  that  it  never  dreams  of  needing  factitious  pre 
tense  to  command  immediate  recognition  and  respect." 

His  listener  had  an  intuition  that  he  was  in  some 
manner  emphasizing  the  subject  beyond  its  mere  pass 
ing  relation ;  although  his  words,  in  themselves,  gave 
no  clue  to  a  reason  therefor. 

"My  husband,"  said  she,  "is  certainly  not  proud  in 
any  arrogant  sense  of  the  term.  He  considers  an 
American  gentleman  the  peer  of  any  social  character 
in  the  world,  and  has  required  all  his  patience  to  meet 
the  real,  or  assumed,  misapprehensions  of  foreigners, 
and  especially  Englishmen,  regarding  distinction  of 
classes  in  the  United  States.  Generally  assuming,  that 
educated  Europeans  are  as  well  informed  about  us  as 
our  average  school  children  are  about  them,  he  is  often 
forced  unwillingly  into  an  aspect  of  affronted  pride  by 
such  questions  as  Doctor  Hedland's.  Even  I  have  been 
sometimes  impelled  to  patriotic  vindication,  by  the 
curiosity  of  some  English  squire's  daughter  to  know, 
whether  the  army  of  Washington  was  wholly  composed 
of  Indians  ;  and  the  equally  vexatious  idea  of  many  a 
more  pretentious  London  lady,  that  the  best  society  of 
our  country  is  that  to  which  belong  the  showy  and 
phenomenal  American  wealth-makers,  whose  vulgar 
ostentation  obtains  far  more  distinguished  social  esti 
mation  abroad,  than  it  ever  knows,  or  can  buy,  at 
home." 

The  color  heightened  on  Mrs.  Effingham's  cheeks; 
her  eyes  lighted  and  her  breath  came  faster  ;  as  she  for 
got  to  extenuate  farther  her  husband's  pride,  in  recall 
ing  what  had  aggrieved  her  own. 

"For  foreign  injustice  of  that  description  there  are 
occasional  exemplary  reprisals  on  your  side,  my  dear 
sister-in-law,"  observed  the  unbending  soldier,  with  a 
momentary  look  in  which  might  have  lurked  a  meaning 


284  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN 

not  so  suavely  gentle,  in  all  respects,  as  his  language. 
The  gleam  lasted  only  for  an  instant,  however,  and  was 
lost  in  an  expression  of  equable  dignity  as  he  went  on  : 
"  Perhaps  you  are  wondering  whether  I  am  here  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  gossip  of  yesterday's  dinner 
party  ?  It  is  a  fact,  that  the  motive  for  my  call  grew 
out  of  that  unique  episode  in  Sarawak  social  life  ;  for  I 
hear  that  the  approaching  departure  of  your  family 
was  mentioned  with  regret,  and  this  reminded  me  that 
I  should  not  have  many  more  opportunities  to  see  you." 

"I  hope,  Colonel  Daryl,  that  our  acquaintance  need 
not  end  with  our  Borneon  sojourn,"  faltered  the  lady  ; 
troubled  by  his  air  of  beginning  something  not  easy, 
nor  wholly  pleasant,  to  say. 

"Mrs.  Effingham,  we  must  not  even  pretend  to  our 
selves,  that  my  nephew  and  myself  are  likely  ever  again 
to  have  the  happiness  of  meeting  yourself  and  your 
family  after  our  parting  on  this  Island.  It  can  scarcely 
be  hoped  that  you  will  return  hither  ;  certainly  Edwin 
and  I  have  no  more  hope  of  seeing  your  country,  for 
many  years,  at  least ;  nor  of  returning  sooner  to 
Europe.  I  have  paid  my  last  visit  to  Sambas,  in  pur 
suit  of  a  now  virtually  extinguished  solution  of  the 
hereditary  problem  that  once  held  out  some  possibility 
of  the  re-establishment  of  our  family  fortunes  in  Eng 
land.  If  I  ha$  not  been  recalled,  to  my  nephew's  bed 
side,  I  could  have  gained  nothing  more  in  Sambas. 
Amongst  the  shifting  savageries  of  that  Dutch-be 
witched  Dyak-land  no  more  trace  has  been  left  by  the 
poor,  demented  purloiner  of  our  patrimonial  patents, 
than  a  drowning  sailor  leaves  in  a  storm.  The  young 
Lieutenant  and  the  old  Colonel  are  destined  to  stay  long 
in  the  China  seas  and  India ;  the  one  to  carve  out 
slowly  a  fortune  for  himself,  if  he  can ;  the  other  to 
give  his  remaining  years  to  obscure  and  uninspiring 


COLONEL  DARYL'S  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE.    285 

soldierly  duty.— You  must  see,  then,  dear  madame, 
how  unlikely  it  is  that  we  can  ever  meet  with  you  and 
yours  again,  after  our  farewells  here." 

"  If  this  must  be  so,  you  and  Mr.  Belmore  will  do  us 
the  justice  of  believing,  that  we  regret  it  as  sincerely 
as  your  most  partial  regard  for  us  could  desire." 

"And  we  shall  regret  it ;  none  the  less,  I  fear,  that, 
for  both  of  us,  any  other  event  would  have  been  a 
pleasure  extended,  only  to  be  the  more  perilous  in  the 
end." 

Mrs.  Effingham  looked  the  question  her  lips  did  not 
ask. 

"Speaking  selfishly  for  myself,  first,"  he  went  on, 
recognizing  the  mute  appeal  and  unconsciously  leaning 
toward  her,  with  every  lineament  softening  as  he  spoke ; 
"I  will  trust  the  fine  intuition  of  your  sex  to  detect 
something  very  different  from  rudeness  in  the  confes 
sion,  that  my  unexpected  meeting  with  yourself  has 
been  an  unmanning  pain  to  me!  Yes,  the  more  ex 
quisite  a  pain  for  being  kept  devouringly  alive  by  the 
insidiously-delusive  pleasure  of  it.  Your  woman-heart 
can  surely  interpret  aright  the  seeming  paradox.  I 
took  you  for  Caroline  Dornton — your  voice  is  hers — 
your  eyes,  your  air !  Struggle  with  myself  as  I  may, 
every  new  sight  of  you  brings  your  sister  again  before 
me,  to  blot  out  everything  in  twenty  years  of  my  life 
but  the  unrecognized  wild  Hope  that  had  been  the 
secret  perennial  vigor  of  carking  Despair,  and  to  kill 
that  Hope  at  the  instant  of  its  revelation  to  me — to  kill 
it  and  leave  the  Despair  to  run  yet  its  normal  course. 
You  bring  me  the  ghost  mocking  and  torturing  me 
so ;  but,  for  all,  a  Spirit  so  sweet  to  my  regenerated 
memories,  that  it  will  hold  me  in  paralyzing  thrall  so 
long  as  you,  its  gentle  priestess,  remain  where  I  must 
sometimes  hear  and  see  you." 


286  THERE  WAS  ONGE  A  MAN. 

Tears  welled  to  the  eyes  of  his  hearer,  and  she  made 
no  attempt  either  to  repress  or  wipe  them  away.  They 
did  not  even  disturb  that  compassionate,  steady  gaze 
into  his  sadly  stern  face  which,  withal,  had  a  certain 
covertly  pleading  suggestion. 

"I  understand  you,  thoroughly,"  she  said,  slowly, 
and  with  pathetic  emphasis  ;  "and  all  that  you  gener 
ously  do  not  say,  I  understand,  too.  You  will  know 
my  meaning,  as  clearly,  when  I  declare  that  it  has 
been  far  more  grief  than  happiness  to  myself  to  find 
you  the  worthier  of  having  been  my  dear  sister's  hus 
band,  in  being  incapable  of  feeling  compensation  for 
her  loss  from  the  utmost  expiation  of  a  great  wrong  to 
you  that  her  sister  has  been  able  to  offer.  If  you  had 
loved  less,  the  softening  and  reconciling  experiences  of 
twenty  years  would  have  made  your  judgment  more 
lenient  to  a  mother-love,  fighting  frenziedly  only  to 
retain  an  object  so  lovely  that  your  .own  heart  broke 
because  you  could  not  take  it  away.  If  you  had  loved 
less,  my  likeness,  in  your  eyes,  to  Caroline,  with  the 
spirit  I  have  confessedly  shown,  to  propitiate  humbly 
your  kindlier  judgment  of  Caroline's  mother,  would 
have  enabled  me  to  give  you,  at  least,  some  atoning 
reassurance  for  your  justly  angered,  manly  pride.  But 
I  have  not  been  able  to  hide  from  myself,  from  the 
first,  Colonel  Daryl,  that,  with  the  -certainty  of  Caro 
line's  death,  renewed  bitterness  of  feeling  towards  our 
mother  has  come  to  you.  Your  jonsiderate  appearance 
of  relenting,  on  occasions,  has  not  blinded  me  ;  and 
while,  knowing  wrhat  you  have  endured,  I  cannot  blame 
you,  the  fact  has  imposed  it  upon  my  commonest  filial 
instinct  to  show  you  even  less  unreserved  sympathy 
than  I  have  felt." 

The  Colonel  heard  her  with  bowed  head  ;  finely  sen 
sitive  to  what  it  must  cost  such  a  woman  to  speak  in 


COLONEL  DARYUS  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE.    287 

this  way,  and  secretly  uneasy  at  seeming  to  exact  what 
from  her,  at  all  events,  was  an  ideally  generous  repara 
tion. 

"Were  you  the  less  nobly  forgetful  of  my  selfishness 
and  weakness,  madame,"  he  rejoined  at  last,  raising 
his  look  to  her  sorrowful  face  again,  "  I  should  feel  un 
speakably  humbled  in  your  sight  for  having  allowed  you 
to  suffer  so  much,  undeservedly,  from  their  assertion. 
If  your  Mother  gave  me,  as  I  thought,  much  less  than 
justice,  you  give  me  so  much  more,  that  I  am  really 
shamed  to  put  yet  one  farther  unmerited  burden  upon 
your  generosity." 

Once  more  her  gentle  eyes  looked  the  question  that 
her  lips  did  not  speak. 

"You  are  aware,  dear  Mrs.  Effingham,  that  Edwin 
Belmore  is  like  a  son  to  me ;  a  legacy  to  my  lonely, 
starved  affection  from  a  dying  sister.  You  have  seen 
what  he  is— a  pure-hearted,  unaffected,  honest  boy, 
with  all  his  troubles -before  him  and  no  worldly  knowl 
edge  to  teach  him  that  they  must  come.  He  renders  to 
me  the  trust  and  obedience  of  a  son,  and  it  has  been  my 
fault  that  his  happy  idling  here  has  gone  on  so  long. 
From  week  to  week,  before  the  Bruni  expedition,  I  de 
ferred  too  indulgently  to  his  inclinations,  because  that 
undertaking  seemed  to  offer  the  earliest  means  of  facili 
tating  his  return  to  duty  without '  specific  constraint  of 
my  authority.  I  will  not  say  that  my  wisdom  was  at 
fault  in  the  matter  ;  for  it  perpetually  reminded  me 
that  I  was  acting  unwisely  ;  but  my  heart  was  tender 
for  the  fatherless  boy,  so  innocently  joj^ous  in  his  first 
real  taste  of  the  sweetest  luxury  of  youth,  and,  in  my 
own  as  self-indulgent  lingering,  I  could  not  bear  to 
shorten  his  guileless  summer  day.  Now,  instead  of 
being  with  me  at  Singapore  to  rejoin  his  ship  while  I 
resume  my  command,  he  is  back  in  Kuchin ;  with 


288  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

me  recalled  to  be  again  his  sponsor  ;  and  the  yearning 
recollections  and  tender  fancies  of  a  humored  invalid 
are  not  likely  to  make  my  last  task  with  him  less  diffi 
cult  than  the  first  might  have  been.  My  dear  Sister-in- 
law,  you  must  know  what  I  mean,  and  you  will  not 
refuse  to  help  me  ?" 

Mrs.  Effingham's  expression  of  countenance  had 
something  like  fear  in  it. 

"  How  can  I  help  ?" 

"  Soon  Edwin  will  be  strong  enough  to  leave  the 
house ;  then  he  will  come  here.  You  have  a  treasure 
that  is  not  for  him,  and  he  must  be  made  to  realize  the 
truth  before  he  goes  back  to  his  appointed  place  in 
life." 

"  Colonel  Daryl,  I  cannot  pretend  to  misunderstand 
you.  Must  it  be  so  ?" 

The  Colonel  raised  his  eyebrows  in  surprise  at  an 
inquiry  that  seemed  to  him  indicative  of  an  incom 
pleteness  of  perception  he  would  not  have  expected. 

"  There  is  no  alternative,  madame  ;  for  I  fear  that  my 
nephew  is  already  seriously  attracted  to  your  lovely 
daughter.  She,  I  presume,  has  had  the  safeguard  of 
your  motherly  vigilance ;  but  my  poor  boy  has  been  al 
lowed,  by  a  less  faithful  guardian,  to  trifle  with  the 
peril  that  he  knew  not  of.  If,  on  his  next  visit  here,  a 
considerate  kindness  does  not  make  him  understand, 
beyond  all  question,  that  only  friendship  is  possible  for 
him  from  this  home,  he  may  carry  away  with  him  some 
delusion  to  make  his  disillusionizing  maturity  the  deso 
late  waste — his  Uncle's  has  been  !" 

At  the  last  clause,  in  which  an  afterthought  seemed 
to  assail  herself,  the  lady  assumed  the  first  air  of  repel- 
lant  pride  she  had  ever  shown  to  the  speaker  since  their 
first  interview. 

"  Excuse  my  slowness  of  apprehension,  sir,"  she  an- 


COLONEL  DAttYVS  DUTY  AS  AN  UNCLE.    289 

swered,  mechanically;  "Mr.  Belmore  stands  too  high 
in  the  affectionate  regards  of  all  in  this  house,  to  make 
any  request  in  behalf  of  his  interests  unwarrantable. 
It  shall  be  my  care  to  observe  your  wishes  in  that 
relation  without  farther  question." 

"I  perceive  that  it  is  my  misfortune  to  offend  you, 
Mrs.  Effingham.  Will  you  not  allow  the  difficulty,  as 
well  as  the  painfulness,  of  the  duty  I  am  performing,  to 
plead  somewhat  for  me?  How  futile  would  be  an 
attempt  to  conceal  from  you,  that  my  own  experience 
is  the  occasion  of  this  fearfulness  for  my  boy  !  But 
for  that,  and  your  knowledge  of  it,  I  should  not  pre 
sume  to  be  here  on  such  a  peculiar  mission.  It  is 
trusting  and  confiding  in  you  as  one  might  in  a  sister, 
to  approach  you  with  a  request  of  so  unusual  and  oner 
ous  a  nature,  that  ordinary  usages  would  justify  you  in 
resenting  it  as  a  gratuitous  impertinence.  Pardon  me, 
madame,  if  I  have  presumed  too  far  in  this." 

"There  should  be  no  question  of  presumption, 
Colonel  Daryl,  in  any  appeal  you  could  make  to  the 
friendship  of  Caroline  Daryl's  sister." 

Never  before  from  human  lips  had  he  heard  his  lost 
wife  mentioned  by  his  own  name,  and  it  thrilled  the 
man  like  the  sound  of  a  sweet  voice  he  had  thought 
stilled  forever.  Kising  abruptly  to  his  feet,  he  grasped 
both  of  the  lady's  hands  impulsively,  and,  for  a  mo 
ment,  looked  intently  down  into  her  calmly  upraised 
face  without  speaking. 

Then  he  said,  fervently  :  "Be  those,  Sister,  your  last 
words  for  me  to-day. ' ' 

She  arose,  also,  her  countenance  beautifully  express 
ing  the  fullest  apprehension  of  the  finely  unspeakable 
sentiment  inspiring  his  request.  Inclining  his  head,  he 
raised  her  right  hand  reverently  to  his  lips  ;  bowed,  and 
withdrew  without  another  word. 


290  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

A  moment  she  remained  motionless  where  he  had 
thus  left  her,  abstracted  in  far-reaching  thought ;  then 
moved  slowly  to  a  window  and  gazed  out,  over  veranda 
and  garden,  to  the  river  dimpling  with  a  gentle  rain. 
Consciousness  of  failure  made  her  heart  heavy  ;  for  the 
interview  had  taught  her,  conclusively,  that  the  wrong 
she  had  humbly  confessed  for  a  dead  mother,  and,  as  it 
were,  submissively  offered  all  that  she  could,  of  her  own 
feelings,  as  a  sacrifice  for,  remained  yet  a  keen  and 
subtle  weapon  in  the  hands  of  its  unforgetting  suf 
ferer,  only  rendered  the  more  trenchant,  perhaps,  by  all 
that  she  had  done.  Delicately  courteous  as  her  sister's 
robbed  and  spurned  bridegroom  ever  was  to  herself; 
loftily  chivalrous  even,  in  gratefully  assuming  unworthi- 
ness  of  her  individual  graciousness ;  none  the  less  he 
had  imperiously  dictated  to  her  that  she  must  finally 
become  a  servile  instrument  of  his  resentful  pride  !  A 
peculiar  irony  of  assumption  suggested  itself  in  his  un 
prefaced  interposition  to  rescue  his  nephew  from  a 
cruelly  misplaced  trust,  before  that  unconscious  youth, 
or  any  other  earthly  being,  had  revealed,  by  word  or 
action,  the  slightest  actual  proof  of  such  a  danger.  In 
effect,  if  not  in  terms,  he  arbitrarily  forced  the  emer 
gency,  with  an  air  of  tacitly  recognizing  it  as  already 
an  inevitable  existence  ;  thus  seeming  to  plead  for  his 
beloved  one  against  assuredly  predestined  fate,  while, 
in  reality,  dictating  the  whole  issue  himself,  even  to  its 
very  hour,  and  making  Caroline's  sister  the  helpless 
minister  of  his  contemptuous  will ! 

Mrs.  Effingham  realized  this  vividly.  It  gave  a  sense 
of  impotent  humiliation  to  Colonel  Daryl's  uniform  and 
frankly  appreciative  homage  to  her  own  distinctive  per 
sonality.  Suddenly  throwing  her  hands  above  her  head, 
and  clasping  them  passionately  there,  she  put  her  troubled 
mind's  one,  scarcely  trusted  hope  into  the  question  : 

"  May  I  ever  tell  him— all  ?" 


CHAPTEE  XVII. 

CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER. 

"  THE  GROVE,"  as  our  Rajah  called  his  latest  official 
residence,  has  been  described  as  standing,  under  arches 
of  palms,  upon  a  gracefully-swelling  mound,  or  knoll, 
not  far  back  from  the  water's  edge.  Behind  and  partly 
around  it  hills  lapped  upon  higher  hills,  and  these  upon 
yet  loftier,  until  the  distant  umbrageous  wilderness  was 
lifted  to  the  azure-softened  eminences  of  a  mountain- 
range.  From  the  immediate  palisaded  grounds  of  the 
Government-house,  a  road,  or,  in  effect,  a  broad  green 
alley,  had  been  cleared  through  the  jungle  to  the  sum 
mit  of  a  gradually  rising  farther  acclivity,  on  which  a 
beautiful  natural  bower,  supplied  with  primitive  seats 
and  a  hammock,  commanded  unimpeded  views  of  the 
native  "campong,"  the  river,  the  European  cottages  of 
the  flanking  heights,  and  the  luxuriant  retreating  up 
lands  of  either  bank  of  the  Sarawak.  Up  to  this  elevated 
retreat  was  the  favorite  morning  and  evening  walk  of 
Rajah  Brooke.  Unattended,  save  by  the  special  pets  of 
his  little  indigenous  menagerie  which  were  trained  to 
befit  the  indulgence — a  meek-eyed  doe,  or  "kijang," 
the  mias  "Betsy,"  a  bear-cub  not  larger  than  a  cat, 
and  a  black  Bugis  monkey — and  by  his  old  English 
bull-dog,  "Billy,"  to  maintain  zoological  decorum — it 
was  his  wont  to  trudge  sturdily  to  the  height  at  sunrise, 
or  near  the  close  of  sunset ;  often  with  the  Bugis  on 
one  shoulder  and  a  parrot  on  the  other. 

A  sweetly  capricious  day  of  arbitrary  passing  flirts  of 
huge  rain-drops  and  as  playful  surprises  of  dazzling 
291 


292  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

sunshine,  was  closing  with  such  a  magnificent  confusion 
of  rich  colors  in  its  cloudy  fleece  as  only  the  fervid 
Tropical  sun  can  mantle  upon  the  vaporous  canopy  of  a 
spot  of  earth  so  temperately  aired  as  the  cool,  green 
Sarawak  valley.  Orange  and  rose  were  the  hues  chiefly 
contending  in  the  parting  light  around  the  bower  on 
the  Rajah's  Hill,  where  two  men,  seated  near  each 
other  and  smoking  after-dinner  segars,  looked  forth 
between  the  shading  palms  upon  the  tranquil  picture 
beneath  and  around  them. 

" — Yes,  this  is  my  ambition,"  one  of  the  two  was 
saying,  in  continuance — "to  see  these  hills  covered 
with  the  plantations  and  homes  of  an  industrious, 
thrifty,  regenerate  people ;  to  see  schoolhouse  and 
Christian  church  arise  in  Kuchin,  and  busy  factory 
and  storehouse  on  the  banks  of  a  commerce-crowded 
Sarawak." 

"May  you  live  to  witness  the  beneficent  consumma 
tion  !"  was  the  hearty  responsive  aspiration. 

"  Ah  !  but  shall  I  live  so  long,  Hedland  ?  The  ques 
tion  is  one  I  often  ask  myself.  That  wound  in  the 
lungs  at  Rungpore  was  permanent  inroad  upon  a  life 
that  would  not  have  lasted  until  now,  but  for  the  sea 
faring  and  invigorating  occupations  of  all  my  subse 
quent  years.  Now  that  my  physical  activities  are 
limited,  I  find  myself  not  so  strong  as  before." 

"You  could  not  be  persuaded,  I  suppose,  to  go  back 
to  England,  on  a  visit,  when  I  return  there  ?  The 
moderation  of  the  climate  here  is  deceptive.  I  find  it 
slowly  debilitating." 

"Perhaps  you  are  right;  and  I  may  try  a  home 
ward  trip,  two  or  three  years  from  now.  My  presence 
may  be  necessary  to  induce  our  Government  at  least  to 
occupy  Pulo  Labuan." 

"Don't  be  too  sanguine  of  much  help  from  Parlia- 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHIL  08  OPHER.  293 

ment  and  the  ministry,  Brooke,"  said  the  naturalist, 
skeptically.  "Bemember  Raleigh,  and  Hastings,  and 
poor,  neglected  Eaffles.  Conquering  soldiers  are  the 
style  of  men  England  appreciates  for  any  part  of  the 
world.  Daryl  tells  me  that  your  agent,  Wise,  thinks 
you  will  be  knighted.  You  would  accept  the  Bath 
because  it  would  be  of  moral  advantage  to  you  in  your 
dealings  with  the  Orientals  ;  but  which  do  you  suppose 
will  weigh  the  more  in  securing  it  for  you — your  ser 
vices  to  mankind  in  Borneo,  or  the  fact  that  you  had 
an  ancestor — Sir  Bobert  Yyner — who  was  a  baronet 
and  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  the  time  of  Charles  the 
Second  ?" 

"It  will  be  a  matter  of  purely  diplomatic  value  to 
me,  however  it  comes,"  replied  the  Rajah,  indifferently. 
"  Do  you  know,  Hedland,  that  prahu  of  yours,  down 
there," — waving  a  hand  toward  the  river — "is  almost 
exactly  upon  the  spot  where  we  first  anchored  the 
Royalist,  six  years  ago  ?  We  gave  Muda  Hassim 
twenty-one  guns,  and  the  good  old  fellow  answered 
with  eighteen  from  the  stockade  around  his  house. 
Then  we  went  ashore  in  the  Lily  gig  and  the  Skim- 
along — you  remember  the  boats  ? — and  had  tea,  and 
cigars  a  foot  long,  with  Muda  and  his  brothers,  to  the 
music  of  deafening  tom-toms.  The  house  was  a  long 
shed  in  palisades,  on  that  mound,  over  there,  next  to 
the  hill  where  I  afterwards  put  up  the  house  now  so 
handsomely  kept  by  the  Effinghams.  The  rock  you  see 
showing  at  this  tide,  to  the  left  of  the  old  Rajah's 
wharf,  is  the  one  on  which  the  frigate  Samarang 
unexpectedly  tilted  over,  two  years  ago.  All  her  stores 
were  lying  loose  on  the  shore  for  weeks,  with  native 
throngs  continually  around,  and  yet  not  an  article  was 
stolen.  What  does  that  say  for  the  honesty  of  my  poor 
Dyaks  ?" 


294  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  The  rich  Dyaks,  like  the  rich  Malays,  are  the  ones 
whose  plundering  proclivities  you  have  to  guard 
against,"  said  the  Doctor,  dryly. 

"  Excepting  Usop  and  Makota,"  returned  the  Rajah, 
"  even  the  Malay  pangerans  have  much  more  honesty 
than  I  had  expected  to  find  in  them.  Muda  Hassim 
has  been  generally  as  true  as  steel  to  his  English  pro 
fessions,  and  as  for  Budrudeen — I  could  trust  him  like 
a  brother." 

The  old  friends  sat  gazing,  together,  over  the  palms 
and  roof  of  "The  Grove,"  into  the  river-holding  valley 
below  them  ;  undulating  vernal  descent,  "  atap  "  house 
tops  showing  between  trees,  Indian  schooners,  prahus 
and  sampans  upon  the  placid  stream,  the  old,  yellow 
native  town,  and  the  picturesque  cottages  crowning,  or 
climbing  their  respective  wooded  knolls — all  taking  the 
sun's  departing  benediction  with  the  grace  of  the 
languid  East  turning  softer  to  the  fiery  West.  It  was 
a  scene  profoundly  suggestive  for  thoughtful  men  ;  so 
little  relieved  from  humble  primitive  barbarism,  and 
yet,  withal,  having  delicate  vital  touches  of  a  new  his 
tory  wherever  the  eye  sought  continuity  of  the  old. 
"Within  that  single  reach  of  watery  mountain-pass,  less 
than  forty  miles  from  its  ocean-entrance,  could  be 
found  the  highest  type  of  Christian  civilization  ever 
known  to  Borneo,  at  the  farthest  point  of  geographical 
advance  yet  made  by  civilizing  agencies  into  the  vast 
Island's  Continent-like  depth  and  width  of  unexplored 
savagery. 

"It  is  the  old  body,  with  another  soul,"  remarked 
the  Doctor,  at  last. 

"  But  such  a  weak,  uncertain  young  soul,  as  yet  I" 
sighed  its  creator. 

"I  can  see  vigor  in  it,"  maintained  the  other. 
"There,  for  instance,  is  your  own  pleasant  home,  down 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER.  295 

yonder,  taking  the  place  of  that  heathen  Makota's 
gloomy  den.     Such  a  change,  in  itself,  means  much.'' 

"  So,  you  have  dropped  Makota,  at  last  ?" 

"Or,  rather,  as  I  told  you  in  our  first  talk  about  it, 
the  yellow-faced  scamp  has  dropped  me.  That  was  a 
clever  piece  of  acting — his  finding  the  pistol  on  the 
ground  and  handing  it  to  me  with  such  a  speech  !  I 
was  puzzled  to  understand  his  true  motive  until  your 
surgeon  told  me  of  Amina's  coming  secretly  here,  to* 
him,  for  arsenic.  The  swarthy  wretch  is  ill-treating 
the  girl,  of  course,  and  thought  he  would  anticipate  the 
falling  out  we  were  sure  to  have  when  I  should  hear 
of  it." 

"Doctor  Treacher  informs  me,  Hedland,  that  you 
favored  the  Pangeran  in  his  suit  for  the  hapless  young 
creature." 

"I  simply  did  not  oppose.  It  was  policy  for  me  to 
become  ']N"iau,'  or  heart -s-friend,  with  Pa  Jenna,  by 
the  old  Kayan  ceremony  of  the  transfusion  of  a  drop  of 
blood  from  each  into  the  arm  of  the  other — a  kind  of 
sentimental  vaccination.  Consequently,  he  does  noth 
ing  without  my  sanction ;  and  when  the  quite  willing 
girl  was  offered  the  extraordinary  honor — for  a  Dyak 
maiden — of  a  place  in  the  harem  of  a  Malay  prince,  he 
applied  for  my  assent.  Why  should  I  have  opposed  ? 
The  Pangeran  had  always  treated  me  handsomely ; 
Amina  longed  to  repeat  the  destiny  of  her  sister,  Inda, 
Budrudeen's  wife  ;  and,  although  Pa  Jenna  is  the  rich 
est  Orang-Kaya  in  Borneo,  and  of  the  proud  Illanaon 
caste,  he  keenly  coveted  the  distinction  of  having  both 
of  his  daughters  at  court.  I  knew  his  wishes  and  the 
girl's ;  there  was  no  reason  why  I  should  offend 
Makota  ;  and  so  I — merely  did  not  interfere." 

""Was  that  the  noblest  course  for  a  Christian  Eng- 


296  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

lishman,  Lawrence  ?"  asked  the  Kajah,  mildly,  but 
with  a  significant  look. 

"It  was  the  true,  philosophical  course,  at  any  rate," 
was  the  response. 

"That  term,  'philosophical,'  is  made  often  to  cover 
such  acts  of  unscrupulous  selfishness,  or  moral  indo 
lence,  as  any  barbarian  might  blush  to  excuse!" 
exclaimed  his  friend,  vehemently.  "What  has  come 
over  you,  Hedland  ?"  he  went  on,  his  tone  changing  to 
a  kind  of  remonstrative  entreaty.  "You  were  always 
a  contradictory  mortal,  and  yet  it  seems  to  me  that 
even  your  consent  to  be  reconciled  with  myself— after 
a  grievance  wholly  of  your  own  imaginative  creation — 
may  be  only  the  freak  of  a  greater  perversity." 

The  philosopher  smiled,  but  not  at  all  genially,  and 
carefully  knocked  the  ash  from  his  segar. 

"I  suppose  I'm  what  they  call  an  'eccentric' 
Brooke,"  he  said,  with  peculiarly  cool  deliberation — 
"  — as  you  are,  yourself,  in  a  measure  !  You  know 
what  you  have  named  your  new  boat  ? — The  Jolly 
Bachelors.  Well,  how  much  sense  is  there  in  that 
name  ?  Are  uncompleted  men  :  confirmed  '  bachelors ', 
like  you  and  me  :  ever  'jolly  '  ?  This  scheme  of  yours 
for  the  moral  regeneracy  of  Dyak-land  is  an  'eccen 
tricity  ' ;  and  my  hermitage  amongst  apes  and  head- 
hunters  is  another  ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  either  of 
us  would  be  here  at  all  if  we  had  married  ! 

"Nature  has  certainly  appointed  woman  to  be  the 
essential  complement  of  man,  and  their  joint  cultiva 
tion  of  domestic  life  to  realize  the  only  normal  fulfil 
ment  of  man's  rational  destiny.  If,  from  any  cause,  an 
individual  departs  from  the  proper  social  continuity  of 
development  of  his  kind,  and  fancies  that  he  can  put 
intellectual  singularity  in  place  of  symmetrical  com- 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER.  297 

monalty  of  physical  genius  with  his  neighbors,  that 
singularity  soon  shows  itself  to  be  a  forced  abnormal 
ism  :  a  degree  of  insanity  :  neither  wholesome  for  the 
world,  nor  a  pleasure  to  himself. 

"Old  bachelors,  old  maids,  childless  parents,  and 
even  particularly  mismated  married  people,  all  become 
more  or  less  mentally  malformed,  in  time ;  because, 
physically,  or  psycho-physically,  they  have  been  but 
partly  developed ;  certain  essential  elements  of  their 
intended  growth  into  the  full  roundness  of  a  complete 
human  existence  being  allowed  to  wither  in  the  germ  ; 
and  their  mental  characteristics  mature  into  correspond 
ing  one-sided  deformities  of  reason.  You  and  I  have 
often  felt  a  superior  sort  of  compassion  for  the  poor  old 
solitaries  of  both  sexes  whose  pitiful  withered  lives  are 
made  burdens  to  themselves,  and  unpleasant  repulsions 
to  every  one  else,  by  their  morbid  conceits  of  perpetual 
physical  ailments ;  we  have  impatiently  deplored  the 
perversion  of  nervous  spinsters  and  childless  wives 
doting  on  pestilent  cats  and  dogs,  or — if  they  are  vul 
gar — making  continual  nauseating  advertisement  of 
their  fancied  bodily  disorders  and  mania  for  drugging  ; 
and  yet  the  moral  Borneo  is  your  old-bachelor  morbid 
ailment  and  metaphorical  cat  and  dog ;  and  my  in 
sensate  celibate  moping  and  drugging  are  the  discovery 
of  primeval  man  amongst  the  tree-tops  ! 

"In  our  cases  Nature  is  revenging,  as  she  always 
does,  a  half  developing  manner  of  existence  ;  only,  you 
and  I  may  happen  to  possess  a  little  more  brains  than 
some  other  lop-sided  men-growths,  and  our  mental 
abnormalisms  produce  '  eccentricities '  of  a  more  spe 
cious  intellectual  order.  Your  missionary  crusade, 
here,  is  another  form  of  the  constitutional  religious 
craze  of  the  more  tolerable  of  old  maids  and  disengaged 
elderly  women  generally ;  and  I  show  the  irritability 


298  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

and  scandal-love  of  the  intolerable  ones  in  quarreling 
even  with  you,  and  encouraging  a  Makota  to  tell  me 
how  he  hates  my  best  friends  !" 

Dr.  Hedland's  delivery  of  this  extraordinary  physio 
logical  discourse  so  clearly  evinced,  by  its  personal 
manner,  that  he  was  self- contemptuously  lashing  him 
self  rather  than  any  one  else,  that  the  man  whose  noble 
career  he  had  classed  with  his  own  in  such  reckless  cyn 
ical  discourtesy,  was  too  magnanimous  to  be  offended. 

"As  you  generously  take  to  yourself  the  more  malig 
nant  phases  of  'mental  abnormalism,11  as  you  call  it," 
said  the  Eajah,  leaning  back  against  a  tree,  with  a  for 
giving  laugh,  "I  ought  not  to  complain,  I  suppose. 
But, — not  to  question  your  argument,  Hedland, — are 
you  aware  that  a  curious  change  has  come  over  you 
since  we  parted  at  Singapore  ?  With  the  freedom  of 
an  old  friendship — never  interrupted  by  my  own  will — 
I  shall  venture  to  describe  it  as  an  apparent  loss  of  your 
pride  in  yourself— your  self-respect !  Always  impetu 
ous  and  plain-spoken,  you  now  seem  to  me  to  include 
yourself  in  the  sweep  of  your  passionate  intolerance  ; 
for  you  sometimes  have  an  air  of  wantonly  provoking 
others,  merely  to  prove  your  reckless  indifference  to 
any  ignominious  repulse  you  may  bring  upon  yourself. 
That  wholly  gratuitous  onslaught  upon  Mr.  Effingham, 
for  instance — suppose  he  had  treated  it  with  the  sur 
prised  disdain  that  the  circumstances  would  have  justi 
fied  ?" 

"Instead  of  which  he  patiently  muffled  me  from 
head  to  foot  in  the  American  Flag — and  I  respect  him 
for  it  I"  confessed  the  naturalist.  "  And  so  you  think, 
Eajah,  that  my  tone  of  personal  dignity  is  lowered  ?  I 
don't  know  but  you  're  right.  How  much  dignity  will 
be  left  for  manhood  in  general,  if  I  can  make  it  plain  to 
the  world,  that  the  ape  returned  by  me  to  my  prahu, 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER.  299 

down  yonder,  this  afternoon,  supplies  unanswerable 
proof  that  we  are  all  no  more  than  intellectually- 
advanced  monkeys  ?" 

"The  same  amount  of  dignity,  my  friend,  that 
belongs  properly  to  manhood  now  ; — that  which  is 
vested  in  its  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  superiority 
over  the  highest  possible  development  of  the  next  order 
in  animal  nature,  whether  it  has  remote  kindred  with 
it,  or  not." 

"Now  that  is  sophistry,  Brooke,"  retorted  the  Doc 
tor,  not  sorry  to  be  upon  his  hobby  again  ;  "you  can 
not  dismiss  the  question  with  a  nourish  of  abstract 
sentiment.  The  basis  of  all  original  human  pride  in 
human  nature  lies  in  the  belief  that  it  is  immeasurably 
removed  from  any  natural  ties  with  brute-nature  ;  that 
Man  had  a  'special  creation  as  consummate  Man  only. 
Upon  this  fundamental  pride — I  call  it  presumptuous 
vainglory — you  may  build  up  any  superstructure  of 
mental,  or  moral,  or  spiritual  arrogation  that  you 
choose  ;  but  knock  that  foundation  forever  away  with 
an  Oshonsee,  and  what  becomes  of  your  edifice  ?" 

"Even  with  such  a  foundation  torn  away,  if  it  has 
been  honestly  and  nobly  built  there-above  it  need  not 
necessarily  fall  into  ruins  ;  but,  rather,  it  may,  without 
losing  its  essential  integrity,  sink  to  a  new  foundation 
of  its  own  unquestionably  demonstrated  primary  supe 
riority  to  whatsoever  is  ungoverned  by  reason  and 
moral  principle ;  and  so,  while  sacrificing  some  pride 
of  mere  altitude,  acquire  a  finer  dignity  of  proved 
superstructural  strength." 

The  burly  naturalist  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and 
smiled  grimly. 

"I  don't  think,"  said  he,  "that  you  appreciate  the 
proportions  of  the  foundation  to  be  knocked  away  ;  for 
they  certainly  constitute  a  good  half  of  the  whole 


300  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN, 

edifice.  If  you  and  I  are  only  the  shaved,  bleached 
and  educated  descendants  of  a  Simian  Adam,  our  sup 
posed  moral  and  spiritual  attributes  are  of  no  higher 
origin  than  might  be  claimed  as  the  Orang-outan's 
motive  for  not  attacking  men,  and  for  fighting  hard 
against  the  agony  of  death.  They  become  the  mere 
instinctive  selfish  conventions  of  personal  immunity 
and  temporization  with  vital  dissolution.  We  are 
moral,  because  our  surest  average  safety  lies  therein, 
and  we  are  spiritual  because  we  want  some  special 
system  of  thought  whereby  to  cope — or  fancy  that  we 
are  coping — with  normal  life's  ineradicable  terror  of 
death.  As  for  our  educational  attributes  :  which  really 
originate  and  control  what  our  vanity  would  make  us 
think  are  the  divinely  dictated  forms  of  the  others; 
they  are  indeed  our  great  distinction  from  and  perma 
nent  superiority  over  the  inarticulate  lower  animals, 
which  cannot  alternately  condense  and  diffuse  such 
wisdom  as  may  be  amongst  them — '  sagacity,'  we  call 
it — by  the  intercommunications  of  speech.  It  is  edu 
cation  only,  as  it  '  forms  the  common  mind,'  that  would 
not  be  forlornly  racked  to  pieces  in  your  edifice  of  self- 
conscious  human  dignity,  by  a  collapse  of  the  founda 
tion  laid  in  pride  of  species  ;  and  education,  alone,  is 
not  sufficient  to  maintain  the  essential  integrity  of  a 
superstructure  so  undermined." 

With  unchanging  serenity  of  look  and  manner  the 
auditor  of  the  discouraging  philosopher  received  this 
rhetorical  display  of  logic,  and  answered  it  practically  : 

"  It  seems  to  me,  Hedland,  that  you  are  a  little  mad 
in  all  this.— I  don't  mean  in  the  argument  you  rear 
upon  the  assumption  that  your  phenomenal  mias  com 
pletes  the  chain  between  man  and  ape  ;  but  in  the 
assumption  itself.  To  me,  Oshonsee  is  yet  an  inarticu 
late  brute  creature.  My  every  instinct,  no  less  than 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHIL  OSOPHER.  301 

my  reason,  fails  to  discover  in  him  any  nearer  identifi 
cation  with  the  human  race  than  is  casually  suggested 
by  the  commonest  mias  of  the  Sadong,  or  Sambas. 
Granted,  that  his  physical  conformation  is  more  like 
man  than  orang-outan  ;  granted,  that  he  seems  to  add 
to  the  imitative  facility  of  his  kind,  the  reflective 
sagacity  of  the  elephant,  the  emulative  ambition  of 
the  horse,  the  loyal  domestic  affection  of  the  dog  and 
the  constructive  aptitude  of  the  beaver — what  are  all 
these  phases  of  dumb  instinct  but  poor,  automatic 
copies  of  the  humblest  expressions  of  human  reason  ? 
Supplement  them  even  with  the  speaking-powers  of 
parrot  and  magpie,  and  how  much  nearer  do  they 
come  to  any  intellectual  or  moral  equality  with  the 
acted  and  spoken  intelligence  of  the  least  cultivated 
human  mind  ?  Because  Oshonsee,  by  some  freak  or 
exceptional  circumstance  of  nature,  is  so  formed  that 
he  can  walk  erect ;  because  some  peculiar  past  impres 
sions  upon  his  brute-instinct  of  self-preservation  have 
prepared  him  to  exhibit  a  few  dim  similitudes  of  dis 
criminating  reason  under  your  unremitted  observation  ; 
you  rush  to  the  conclusion  that  he  is  something  more 
than  anthropoid  ape  ; — an  ape  changing  to  man,  and 
so  proving  that  every  lofty  intuition  of  a  divinely  dis 
tinctive  creation,  in  the  human  soul  is  a  pitifully  false 
.conceit." 

Doctor  Hedland  was  as  unmoved  at  this  arraignment 
of  himself  as  his  friend  had  been  in  listening  to  his  pro 
vocation  of  it. 

"You  mistake  the  platitudes  of  hereditary  mental 
habit  for  the  independent  deductions  of  your  own  un 
prejudiced  observation,"  he  returned,  with  an  air  of 
necessitated  indulgence.  "  The  vanity  of  mankind  has 
established  a  system  of  pretended  insuperable  distinc 
tions  between  man  and  ape,  that  the  strongest  un- 


302  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

scientific  mind  by  mechanical  custom  adopts.  Even 
scientists  themselves  have  not  been  above  pandering  to 
it ;  as  when  Curier  gave  designation  of  '  the  four- 
handed'  or  quadrumana,  to  all  otherwise  humiliat- 
ingly  man-like  denizens  of  the  primeval  forest, 
because,  from  living  chiefly  in  trees,  their  nether 
extremes  have  been  forced  into  manual  functions, 
whereby  the  ankles  are  curved  outward  and  the 
great-toes  compelled  to  do  duty  as  thumbs. 

"Fancy  a  second  Deluge,  and  the  human  survivors, 
at  the  period  of  its  subsidence  below  the  highest  tree- 
tops,  obliged  to  live  in  the  latter  for  generations.  Say 
that  such  conditions  of  life  lasted  for  a  hundred,  or  even 
fifty,  years  ;  with  successive  generations  clinging  to  the 
boughs  by  their  feet,  and  constrained  to  almost  per 
petual  crouching  postures  by  the  low  limits  of  their 
shelter  :  and  how  much  less  '  quadrumanous '  do  you 
suppose  they  would  ultimately  become  than  are  our 
Borneon  miases  ?  How  much  longer,  or  straighter 
from  the  hip,  would  their  legs  be  ?  Fancy  them  in 
all  that  time  not  only  debarred  from  all  clothing  save 
the  leaves  Scripturally  assigned  to  Adam  and  Eve,  but 
with  leaves,  simply,  to  shelter  their  whole  bodies  from 
the  weather ;  and,— supposing  the  climate  not  perpet 
ually  warm,  or  temperate — can  you  doubt  that  Xature 
would  finally  supply  them  with  hairy  coatings  ?  Then 
imagine,  farther,  the  eternal  intellectual  insanity  of 
such  an  existence,  with  the  corresponding  natural  de 
preciation  of  the  faculties  of  the  brain :— how  much 
more  mind  would  your  ultimate  aborealized  human 
being  possess  than  orang-outan,  or  chimpanzee  ?" 

"But  this  argument  applies  to  the  degeneracy  of 
man ;  not  to  the  regeneracy  of  ape,"  remarked  Rajah 
Brooke. 

"  I  've  heard  that  criticism  before,  and  will  answer  as 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHIL  OSOPHER.  303 

before,"  was  the  impatient  rejoinder  ;  "It  is  Unthink 
able,  practically  speaking,  that  credible  natural  cir 
cumstances  could  ever  so  combine  as  to  reduce  man  to 
apehood  ;  but  to  concede  the  possibility  of  them  even  in 
theory,  is  to  allow  the  Thinkableness  of  the  converse  of 
the  proposition.  We  may  easily  suppose  natural  oc 
currences  to  drive  the  anthropoid  apes  from  a  certain 
forest  to  life  on  a  plain,  and  a  co-operation  of  condi 
tions  of  subsistence  and  self-preservation,  there,  to 
induce,  gradually,  in  their  progressive  generations,  a 
habit  of  erect  walking  and  an  adaptation  of  the  lower 
limbs  to  that  method  of  locomotion.  If,  in  his  present 
estate,  the  orang-outan  covers  himself  with  bedclothing 
of  pandanus  leaves  in  wet  weather,  why  should  he  not 
make  some  sort  of  leafy  hut,  to  the  same  protective 
end,  as  a  dweller  on  the  ground  ?  A  common  monkey 
removed  to  a  cold  climate  will  soon,  without  human 
instruction,  gather  any  convenient  bit  of  cloth  around 
his  shoulder,  for  its  warmth  ;  why,  then,  should  not  the 
erect-walking  and  hut-building  mias,  or  chimpanzee, 
take  finally  to  clothing  himself.  And  as  a  housed  and 
clothed  creature,  it  would  not  be  an  unlikelihood  of  na 
ture  for  his  hirsute  covering  to  depart,  as  no  longer 
necessary,  in  the  course  of  a  few  generations.  Well, 
you  see  how  far  our  ape  is  already  advanced  in  the 
human  scale  by  perfectly  Thinkable — I  may  say  practi 
cally  Knowable — conditions.  Your  owrn  mind  can  fol 
low  out  the  remaining  evolutions  into  our  kind  of 
manhood,  as  the  gradually  increasing  and  refining 
physical  capacities  and  sensibilities  formulate  speech, 
and  tend  to  the  cultivation  of  instinct  into  reason." 

"And  you  believe,"  said  the  Kajah,  "that  your 
Oshonsee  is  a  living  demonstration  of  this  advancement 
from  one  type  to  another  by  process  of  natural  evolu 
tion?" 


304  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  Emphatically,  I  do !  If  you  ask  me  to  define  specifi 
cally  the  conditions  developing  this  particular  mias  into 
such  an  advanced  form  of  being,  I  must  answer  that  I 
have  no  longer  even  a  local  theory  about  them  ;  for  I  am 
satisfied  that  Makota  was  truthful  at  last  about  the 
capture  of  the  creature  itself,  not  only  in  Borneo,  but 
even  in  the  common  mias  country  between  the  Sarawak 
and  the  Sadong.  Furthermore,  I  have  secured  the 
skull  of  an  animal  of  like  development,  but  female  (I 
think),  reported  to  have  been  killed  at  the  foot  of  Tub- 
bang  mountain,  in  our  very  Sarawak  valley!  This 
overthrows  my  Sumatran  theory.  With  all  his  diver 
gences  from  our  Simunjon  Pappans,  Oshonsee  is  cer 
tainly  not  wholly  of  a  different  species ;  so  I  may 
retain  the  idea  of  his  hybridism,  and  believe  that  on 
one  side  he  sprang  from  Pappan  stock.  But  where  shall 
I  look  for  the  other  factor  of  his  parentage  in  a  region 
not  only  now  without  orang-outans,  but  wanting  the 
marshy  character  of  soil  that,  at  any  period,  must  have 
been  requisite  for  any  known  species  ?" 

"  You  mention  Mount  Tubbang ;  do  you  know  that 
there  is  a  cave  in  that  mountain  ?"  asked  the  Rajah, 
thoughtfully. 

"  I  have  been  over  the  mountain  often,"  replied  the 
naturalist,  in  some  surprise;  "but  never  found,  nor 
heard  of,  any  cave." 

"As  I  remember  it,"  pursued  the  other,  "its  en 
trance  is  through  a  hole  like  a  shallow  well.  Probably 
it  has  been  concealed,  for  some  purpose." 

"That  is  something  I  shall  certainly  investigate," 
declared  Hedland.  "The  caves  and  tertiary  deposits 
of  this  Island  may  yet  reveal  something  of  human  his 
tory  never  before  dreamed  by  the  boldest  speculation." 

"Am  I  to  understand  your  conclusion  about  Oshon 
see  to  be,  that  he  is  a  Hybrid  of  Simunjon  Pappan  and 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER.  305 

some  greatly  advanced  unknown  species  ;  and  that  one 
<5f  his  parents  may  have  belonged  in  the  Sarawak 
valley?" 

u  What  else  am  I  to  think,  Brooke,  with  the  imper 
fect  knowledge  at  my  command,  and  after  finding  and 
tracing  the  significant  skull  I  have  mentioned  ?  You 
have  my  theory  of  the  conditions  by  which  the  human- 
ization  of  such  an  ape  as  the  supposable  more  advanced 
progenitor  of  Oshonsee  may  have  been  progressively 
effected  ;  yet,  I  am  wholly  at  a  loss  to  know  how  such 
a  creature  could  have  originated  in,  or  come  into,  any 
explored  part  of  Borneo.  "* 

"Now,  one  more  question,  my  old  friend,"  said  the 
Rajah,  laying  a  hand  upon  the  nearer  knee  of  the 
naturalist,  and  questioning  as  much  with  look  as  voice  : 
"are  you,  in  any  respect,  a  happier  man,  for  having 
secured  the  awfully  momentous  scientific  prize  you 
take  this  mysterious  Oshonsee  to  be  ?" 

The  Doctor  brought  his  own  right  hand  emphatically 
down  upon  his  friend's,  and  kept  it  there  while  answer 
ing  : 

"God  knows  I  am  not!  The  thing  works  in  my 
intellectual  nature  like  a  poison,  bringing  a  kind  of 
delirium  at  one  moment,  and  a  leaden  dulness  of  dis 
gust  with  everything  in  human  life — myself  chiefly  ! — at 
the  next.  I  tried  once,  as  I  've  told  you,  to  shoot  the 
devilled  ape ;  and  that  action  followed  close  upon  the 
revolt  of  my  every  moral  faculty  against  killing  a  com 
mon  mias  in  a  tree  !  It  was,  as  I  said  a  while  ago,  an 
unsocial  mental  abnormalism  that  led  me  into  this 
accursed  study,  and  gave  me  a  supernaturally  malev- 

*The  critic  of  Doctor  Hedland's  scientific  uncertainties  and  occasional 
seeming  inconsistencies,  must  be  reminded,  once  more,  that  Darwin's 
theory  of  natural  « '  Selection,  Evolution  and  Survival ' '  was  not  then 
known  ;  nor  were  Haeckel's  and  Wallace's  elaborations  of  it. 


306  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

olent  spite  in  it.  If  I  had  not  perversely  contemned 
my  kind ;  if  I  had  taken  a  suitable  wife,  and  reared 
children,  and  given  my  life  its  full  and  free  natural 
expression  ;  all  the  enthusiasm  for  science  in  the  world 
could  not  have  inspired  me  so  to  consort  with  barbar 
ism,  and  become  myself  a  moral  and  spiritual  barbarian, 
for  the  sake  of  proving  that  men  are  but  monkeys  of  a 
vainer  growth!" 

"And  do  you  realize,  Hedland,"  spoke  the  Kajah, 
with  a  remonstrating  solemnity  of  inflection,  "  that  if 
you  can  convince  men  of  this,  you  will  also  be  destroy 
ing  their  faith  in  the  immortality  of  the  human  soul — 
the  fundamental  principle  of  all  religion  and  Christian 
civilization  ?" 

Nervously  rising  to  his  feet,  and  abstractedly  thrust 
ing  his  hands  into  his  pockets,  the  fitful  misanthropist 
betrayed  his  mind's  fretful  unrest  by  pacing  the  few 
feet  of  space  available  between  the  trees  of  their 
elevated  retreat. 

"  That  part  of  the  business,"  he  answered,  hurriedly, 
with  his  eyes  uneasily  averted,  "belongs  to  the 
theologian ;  not  to  me.  There  is  chaos  in  my  own 
mind  on  the  subject;  and  yet" — with  some  resump 
tion  of  his  former  vivacity — "why  should  there  be? 
Is  anything  ever  annihilated  in  this  world — either  the 
body  or  soul  of  once-living  thing?  Death  is  but  a 
change  in  the  forms  of  matter ;  not  their  destruction. 
No  atom  of  the  world's  composition  since  the  creation 
has  ever  been  annihilated  ;  all  is  here  yet,  and  must  be 
somewhere  in  the  universe  to  all  eternity,  whatsoever 
the  mutations  of  its  infinite  forms  and  attributes. 
Man's  body  'dies,'  as  we  call  it,  and  is  disintegrated 
into  its  original  constituent  physical  elements ;  but 
with  no  absolute  extinction  of  anything.  The  vital 
essence,  or  the  mind,  or  the  Soul,  as  we  may  choose  to 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHIL  OSOPHER.  307 

term  it,  can  be  none  the  more  annihilated.  Keleased 
from  the  body,  to  which  it  has  been  at  once  the  in 
dividualizing  force  of  segregate  physical  cohesion,  and 
the  subtle  preservative  and  motorial  intelligence,  it 
returns  to  be  a  part  again  of  the  intangible  vivifying 
force  of  the  whole  universe — perhaps  as  what  we  so 
indefinitely  style  Electricity  ;  to  shine  supernally  in 
the  thunder-storm  and  Aurora  Borealis — Heaven !  or 
to  terrify  in  the  earthquake  and  volcano — Hell !  or  to 
enter  some  new  incorporation  of  living  matter — Metem 
psychosis  !  This  horror  of  death  that  men  feel  is  an 
inheritance  from  the  lowest,  blindest  brute-instinct ; 
the  intimations  of  immortality,  timidly  attributed  to 
the  human  soul,  should  be  rightfully  understood  as 
refined,  educated  and  finally  unblinded  instinct's  re 
cognition  of  Immortality  in  every  atom  and  essence  of 
Nature !" 

The  friend  regretfully  hearing  this  half-soliloquized 
degradation  of  the  system  of  the  Universe  into  mere 
endlessly-revolving  machinery,  scarcely  knew  what  an 
tidote  could  be  in  the  least  effective  against  such  obsti 
nate  and  sweeping  materialism. 

"All  this  means  virtual  atheism,"  he  said,  with  a 
mixture  of  impatience  and  indignation.  "You  are 
miserably  changed,  indeed,  Hedland,  to  find  in  your 
own  soul  no  undying  contradiction  of  your  scheme  to 
make  it  only  one  of  the  mechanical  forces  of  nature. 
There  can  be  no  moral,  much  less  spiritual,  responsi 
bility  in  a  soul  like  that,  save  to  the  other,  sordid  parts 
of  the  machine  it  belongs  to.  Do  you  realize  that  your 
theory  implies  the  hopeless  falsity  of  every  noble, 
saintly  aspiration  that  ever  glowed  in  a  bosom  wor 
shipful  of  a  Divine  Fatherhood?" 

"Don't  be  so  unjust  to  me  as  that !"  exclaimed  the 
naturalist,  quickly.  "Fichte  treats  the  Universe  as 


308  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

simply  the  logical  process  of  the  Divine  mind  ;  Schell- 
ing  finds  all  nature  full  of  God  :  what  you  denominate 
my  '  atheism  '  makes  these  two  to  seem  one.  From  the 
beginning  of  all  things  I  see  the  unbroken,  unexcep 
tional  workings  of  a  mighty  system  of  Law,  as  devised 
and  enforced  at  the  creation  by  an  Omnipotent  and  Just 
Divinity ;  and  in  its  every  aspect  of  material  develop 
ment  shines  a  reflected  image  of  the  Divine  Mind,  sus 
taining  and  growing  steadily  clearer  in  it.  Instead  of 
being  a  jumble  of  unrelated,  casually-exigent  crea 
tions,  all  living  substances  and  forms,  from  the  minutest 
'  spontaneous  generation '  to  consummate  Man,  are  suc 
cessive  links  in  the  one  great  chain  of  progressive  being, 
running  '  from  God's  own  Hand  to  God's  own  Hand.' 
All  is  consecutiveness,  and  order,  and  Law  immutable ! 
Is  God  the  less  to  be  recognized  and  adored  as  the  Su 
preme  Author,  because  we  find  His  marvelous  Work 
unfragmentary,  coherent,  and  inexhaustible  in  every 
part  ?  Is  man  less  really  the  highest  material  develop 
ment  of  Divine  Law,  from  the  proved  consecutiveness 
of  his  ascent  to  that  eminence  V" 

"Material  development!"  repeated  the  Kajah,  em 
phasizing  the  adjective,  contemptuously.  He,  too,  now, 
arose  to  his  feet,  and  spoke  more  nearly  face  to  face 
with  Oshonsee's  pervert. — "You  are  reasoning  away 
the  Soul  of  man  altogether  !  Hedland,  I  reproach  my 
self  for  having  allowed  the  conversation  to  reach  such 
a  tenor.  I  do  honestly  believe  that  you  are  mad  on  this 
subject — made  so  by  a  fancied  astounding  scientific  dis 
covery  ;  and  I  also  believe  that  your  old  good  sense  will 
yet  return  for  your  cure." 

"Fancied  discovery  !"  echoed  the  other,  in  his  turn. 
"Why,  look  you,  Kajah  of  Sarawak !  it  may  not  impos 
sibly  follow  from  the  same  '  fancied  discovery, '  that  this 
Borneo  of  yours  will  have  an  even  chance  to  be  accepted 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER.  309 

as  the  scene  of  man's  origin  !  All  history,  tradition 
and  fable  seem  to  assign  primary  human  nativity  to 
southern  Asia.  Geology  teaches  that  the  eocene  and 
miocene  stages  of  the  globe's  tertiary  period  beheld  a 
solid  Europe,  Iceland,  Greenland  and  North  America 
all  linked  in  one  land.  These  East  Indies  were  then 
undoubtedly  united  to  the  Asiatic  continent ;  as  witness 
the  comparative  shallowness,  yet,  of  the  fifty  to  ninety 
fathom  seas  between  them  and  lower  India.  Thus, 
only  Behring  Strait, — if  even  that  thirty  odd  miles  of 
watery  interval  could  then  have  existed — broke  the 
continuity  of  dry  ground  all  round  our  planet. 

"  We  will  suppose  that  sometime  in  the  secondary 
period  of  the  creation,  before  the  Age  of  Stone,  the 
mammalia  had  developed  from  the  marsupials,  and  the 
quadrumana  (our  monkey-friends — perhaps  those  of 
Africa  and  South  America  without  thumbs  on  their 
fore-hands)  from  the  then  next-highest  order  of  mam 
mals.  Then  came  the  tertiary  period's  morning,  or 
eocene  stage,  when  the  North  and  West  were  torrid  in 
climate ;  with  palms  and  Tropical  forests  in  the  now 
England  and  between  Western  Europe  and  the  present 
United  States  ;  and  a  cold,  wet,  unfructifying  climate 
prevailed  in  our  Tropics  and  southward. 

"  It  may  be  naturally  supposed  that  the  development 
of  the  then  highest  order  of  mammals,  all  over  the 
world — the  most  man-like  :  the  so-called  quadrumana : 
from  marmoset  and  lemur  upward — progressed  more 
rapidly  in  the  comparatively  temperate  than  in  the 
torrid  regions.  For  instance,  in  this  very  Borneo,  and 
on  its  line  within  the  Tropics  through  Africa  and  South 
America,  beings  structurally  approaching  the  orang- 
outan,  Buffon's  '  Pongo  '  ape,  and  the  chimpanzee  may 
have  been  developed,  while  in  northern  Asia,  Europe 
and  North  America  roamed  the  mammoths  of  creation, 


310  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

In  the  uoonday,  or  miocene,  stage  of  the  long  tertiary 
period,  the  heat  of  the  North  and  West  moderated,  and 
the  southern  hemisphere  grew  warmer ;  whereupon 
there  must  have  been  great  migrations  of  beast  and 
bird  ;  and  as  the  Tropics  had  then  begun  to  show  palm 
and  jungle,  the  Siberian  elephant,  the  Manatee,  or  sea- 
cow,  of  Behring's  waters,  and  other  giants,  may  have 
started  Southward  and  Eastward.  Probably  the  quad- 
rumana  of  the  highest  development  had  thus  far  been 
found  in  the  cool,  marshy  Equatorial  belt,  and  some  of 
this  grade  now  moved  Eastward  and  Northward.  In 
the  last,  or  pliocene,  tertiary  stage,  the  Americp-Euro- 
pean  land  barrier  dividing  the  Atlantic  and  Arctic 
oceans  sank  away,  and  the  sea  rolled  freely  from  Pole 
to  Pole  between  two  finally  separated  parts  of  a 
world.  Simultaneously  the  climate  above  and  below 
the  Tropics  was  temperate,  while  that  of  the  Tropics 
turned  torrid  ;  the  animal  life  distributed  in  the  former 
finding  every  combination  of  natural  conditions  to 
accelerate  its  noblest  development,  while  that  in  the 
latter  was  proportionately  retarded. 

"  Say  that  a  creature  like  your  Bugis  monkey,  Brooke, 
was  the  nearest  approach,  at  that  time,  in  the  Tropics, 
to  human  development,  and  say,  that,  in  the  ages  of 
the  disappearance  of  the  quadrumana  elsewhere  into 
the  Man  type,  the  species  left  in  the  East  Indies,  India, 
Africa,  South  America  and  the  "West  Indies,  developed 
no  higher  than  orang-outan,  baboon,  chimpanzee  and 
other  anthropoids — where  could  you  expect  so  certainly 
to  find  the  nearest  approximation  to  man  in  the  indige 
nous  ape,  as  in  this  exceptionally  temperate  Borneo  ?" 

Such  a  peroration  to  all  the  geology  and  biology  of 
the  speech  struck  the  Rajah  so  ludicrously,  that  he 
could  not  refrain  from  laughter. 

"Ah,  it  amuses  you,  does  it!"  snapped  Doctor  Hed- 


CHRISTIAN  AND  PHIL  OSOPHER.  31 1 

land,  quite  in  the  manner  of  his  old,  testy  self.  "  Do 
you  know  what  is  the  exact  structural  difference 
between  yourself  and  any  common  mias  ? — Well,  he  has 
one  more  wrist-bone  than  you — that  s'  all !  Is  his  head 
not  shaped  favorably  for  intellectual  development  ? — 
Well,  any  phrenologist  will  tell  you  that  the  human 
infant's  head  is  far  more  symmetrically  porportioned 
in  that  superficial  respect  than  the  human  adult's ! 
Cannot  the  Borneon  man-of-the-woods  be  developed  to 
walk  easily  erect,  and  make  a  fire  ?  Look  at  Oshonsee  I ' ' 

Once  more  the  Rajah  laughed  with  an  unconstraint 
fearfully  derogatory  to  princely  dignity ;  at  the  same 
time  glancing  towards  the  Doctor's  prahu  far  down  on 
the  darkening  river,  as  though  amiably  willing  to 
"  look,"  literally,  upon  the  phenomenal  ape,  if  he  could. 

"As  they  used  to  say  of  Hegel,"  he  banteringly  re 
plied,  "you  seem  to  'think  in  substantives,' and  one 
cannot  argue  theoretically  against  your  positivisms. 
I  suppose  you  rank  Mr.  Oshonsee  next  to  the  African 
Bushman  in  the  humanizing  scale  ?" 

"  There  is  another  toadyism  of  time-serving  science 
— the  designation  of  the  black  Bushman  as  the  lowest 
standard  of  human  development !  There  are  white- 
skinned  bipeds,  and  in  present  Europe,  too,  of  more 
brutal  type  than  he." 

"  Oh,  in  a  couple  of  hundred  years  from  now  there 
will  be  plently  of  finely  brutalized  human  specimens 
all  over  the  world,  if  you  can  convince  mankind  that  it 
is  only  monkeyhood  shaved,  walking  erect  and  talking." 

"  In  that  you  hit  me  nearly,  Brooke.  As  mankind 
has  been  educated,  the  truth  devolving  upon  me  to  de 
monstrate  must  have  a  tendency  to  that  insidious  result, 
in  the  common  mind  at  least.  I  am  taught  that,  by  the 
confusing  effect  upon  my  own  mental  system.  Reason 
as  I  may,  I  find  my  self-appreciation  dolefully  degraded. 


312  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Why,  Brooke,  the  occasion  of  my  reconciliation  with 
you  is  my  loss  of  pride  in  self !  Otherwise,  I  could  never 
have  forgiven  you,  in  the  world,  for  refusing  to  be 
offended  at  me  when  I  was  so  anxious  to  offend  you  !" 

Here  was  the  old  Lawrence  Hedland,  after  all ;  to 
forbear  with  under  every  provocation,  because  he  had 
the  justest  and  warmest  of  hearts  under  the  perversest 
eccentricities  of  speech  and  action. 

The  two  friends  had  advanced,  as  they  talked,  from 
the  gathering  gloom  beneath  their  hill-top  canopy  of 
palm-leaves  into  the  declining  outer  light  of  the  hedged 
path  down  the  hill.  Rajah  Brooke,  thrust  an  arm 
within  one  of  Hedland's,  and  as  the  contrasting  figures, 
thus  amicably  linked,  started  upon  the  descent,  he  an 
swered  the  naturalist's  last  reactional  confession  : 

"  No  matter  what  brought  you  back  to  us ;  since  you 
have  actually  come ;  and  not  only  forgiven  me  for  re 
fusing  to  quarrel  with  you,  but  positively  paid  compli 
ments  to  those  pleasant  Americans  ;  I  shall  not  bother 
myself  about  the  cause.  If  you  must  return  to  your 
Dyak  village  this  evening,  let  it  be  with  a  manful  der 
termination  to  turn  your  hybrid  monster  loose  in  his 
native  wilds  again.  If  you  do  not — take  my  word  for  it, 
dear  Lawrence,  he  will  turn  your  brain." 

The  admonition  was  spoken  in  a  tone  of  beseeching 
affection  that  even  the  irritable  philosopher  could  not 
resent. 

"  I  dare  not  do  that,"  said  the  Doctor,  in  a  subdued, 
halting  voice. 

"Dare  not  ?  Have  you  learned  to  love  the  creature 
so  well  ?" 

"No  ;  that  is  not  it.  I  have  an  affection  for  him,  as 
he  has  for  me ;  but  he  inspires  me  as  much  with  fear 
as  with  love." 

"  Then  why  do  you  not  dare  ?" 


EDWIN'S  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  313 

"Because,"  exclaimed  the  master  of  Oshonsee,  turn 
ing  to  glare  into  the  face  of  his  friend,  as  they  strode  on 
"  because,  I  '11  swear  that  he 's  A  MAN  1" 


CHAPTEE  XVIII. 

EDWIN'S  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW. 

LIFE  at  "  The  Grove  "  was  of  the  medley  character  to 
have  been  expected  in  a  great  household  conducted 
wholly  without  the  domestic  genius  of  woman.  From 
top  to  bottom  of  the  family  scale  everything  was  mas 
culine  ;  and  while  a  certain  official  system  gave  sufficient 
order  to  the  routine  business  of  public  and  private  ser 
vice,  the  social  air  of  the  establishment  suggested 
rather  a  select  East  Indian  hotel  for  gentlemen  than  a 
permanently  concentrated  home.  Indeed,  the  primitive 
style  of  domestication  yet  prevalent  in  Kuchin,  and  his 
own  hospitable  spirit,  constrained  the  Eajah  to  keep 
open  his  doors  to  all  transient  European  visitors  of  his 
capital,  whether  from  English  man-of-war,  or  Singapore 
schooner  ;  so  that  the  company  gathering  at  table  was 
often  a  true  travelers'  mixture  of  ranks  and  characters. 
The  combination  of  Governmental  residence  and  judi 
cial  offices  with  this  generous  Bachelors'  Hall  did  not 
lessen  the  suggestion  of  exceptional,  temporary  abid 
ance  to  guests  having  their  first  experiences  there  ;  yet, 
withal,  one  soon  found  a  peculiar  charm  in  the  generous 
freedom  and  gracious  equality  of  the  place,  that  grew 
more  congenially  homelike  every  day. 

Except  in  the  few  hours  of  the  afternoon  when  the 
large  central  room  was  used  for  court-audience,  no  part 


314  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

of  the  great  house  outside  of  the  Kajah's  library  and 
dormitory,  and  the  offices  of  his  staff,  had  exclusion  for 
friend  or  visitor.  Everybody  shared  the  privilege  of 
roving,  resting  and  associating  as  he  chose.  The  long 
veranda  was  seldom  without  its  chatting  group,  or  scat 
tered  single  figures  ;  in  white  linen  and  straw  hats  by 
morning,  and  in  darker  coats  later  on  ;  idly  overlooking 
the  river  through  cigar-smoke,  or  enjoying  the  shade  of 
the  hills  at  the  warmer  times  of  the  day.  Windows 
here  and  there  looked  in  upon  pairs  conversing  lazily 
over  the  Oriental  equivalent  of  brandy-and-soda,  or  in 
dividuals  writing,  reading,  or  luxuriously  drowsing. 
Xo  ceremony  was  exacted,  save  at  breakfast  and  dinner 
in  the  main  room  ;  when,  with  the  Eajah  at  the  head  of 
the  board,  his  principal  latest  guest  on  his  right  hand, 
and  the  staff  and  other  guests  ranging  according  to 
rank  on  either  side,  the  admirably  cooked,  well-served 
meal  was  discussed  with  due  conventional  forms  of 
etiquette. 

This  was  the  manner  of  life  familiar  to  Colonel  Daryl 
and  his  nephew  in  Sarawak,  and,  in  sickness  as  in 
health,  the  younger  man,  at  least,  had  found  its  seduc 
tiveness  very  hard  to  be  renounced.  Belmore's  conva 
lescence  from  his  martial  wound  did  not  depend  alone 
upon  geniality  of  climate  and  youth's  recuperative 
buoyancy  for  its  enjoyability.  H.  M.  S.  Driver,  an 
chored  almost  at  the  front  door,  assured  to  him  the 
sympathetic  and  lively  company  of  a  number  of  young 
men  in  his  own  profession ;  his  room  was  never  neg 
lected  by  his  kind  older  friends  of  "  The  Grove  ;"  the 
most  devoted  of  uncles  studied  his  every  whim ;  and 
then  there  had  been  flattering  messages  of  inquiry,  and 
divers  edible  delicacies  brought,  from  time  to  time,  by 
Berner — not  to  mention  Mr.  Effingham's  several  per 
sonal  calls.  Thus  the  invalid  Lieutenant  progressed 


ED  WIN' S  D  UTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  315 

from  couch  to  easy-chair,  from  the  latter  to  walks  on 
the  veranda,  and  from  those  to  a  row  on  the  river, 
without  an  incident  to  detract  from  the  most  luxurious 
delight  of  getting  well  again. 

But,  one  morning,  at  breakfast,  his  uncle,  who  had 
not  seen  him  before  since  his  betaking  to  boat  early  on 
the  preceding  evening,  noticed  that  Edwin  seemed  un 
usually  languid  and  abstracted.  Others  observed  it,  also ; 
and  to  them  he  made  the  excuse,  that  a  little  cold  and  a 
poor  night's  rest  were  "the  matter  with"  him. 
Colonel  Daryl  ventured  no  remark  ;  for  he  knew  better 
than  this,  and  suspected  that  some  of  the  company 
knew  as  much.  It  was  generally  known  that  the  young 
gentleman's  post-prandial  excursion  on  the  day  before 
had  been  one  of  good-bye  to  his  American  friends, 
prefatory  to  his  appointed  departure  with  his  uncle  for 
Singapore,  and  the  Colonel,  at  any  rate,  was  perfectly 
aware  of  the  circumstances  which  must  have  given  him 
such  an  unrefreshed  face  for  the  breakfast-table. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  meal,  upon  pretence  of  let 
ters  to  write,  Belmore  declined  the  usual  sociable  morn 
ing  walk  and  smoke,  evaded  Doctor  Treacher's  friendly 
solicitude  as  to  his  pulse,  and  returned  listlessly  to  his 
own  chamber.  Throwing  himself  heavily  into  the  easy- 
chair  by  a  window — there  he  saw  that  Colonel  Daryl 
had  followed  him,  and  was  seeking  his  eye  with  an  ex 
pression  of  questioning  anxiety  upon  his  own  counte 
nance. 

"  You  do  not  feel  ill,  my  boy  ?" 

"  Oh,  no,  Uncle  Will.  A  little  out  of  sorts ;  that's  all. ' ' 

"  Did  you  have  a  bad  night  ?" 

"Not  much  sleep.  But  never  mind  me,  Uncle  ;  I 
shall  be  all  right  presently." 

"  Whom  else  in  the  whole  world  have  I  to  mind  but 
you,  Edwin  ?"  said  the  Colonel,  with  an  eloquent  tremor 


316  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

in  his  voice.  He  took  a  chair  beside  that  in  which  the 
young  man  was  sitting,  and,  with  a  timidity  of  move 
ment  infinitely  pathetic,  placed  a  hand  upon  his  neph 
ew's  enfevered  brow.  "  Whom  else  in  the  whole  world 
have  I  to  mind  but  you,  Edwin  ?"  he  repeated. 

"  You  mind  me  very  much  more  than  I  am  worth," 
replied  the  nephew,  smiling  faintly,  and  shyly  drawing 
back  his  head  ;  "  I  'm  ashamed  to  receive  such  perpet 
ual  indulgence  and  kindness  from  you,  and  only  add  to 
your  cares  and  anxiety  in  return." 

"Your  affection  and  confidence,  my  dear  boy,  are  all 
that  I  ask  ;  and  those  are  surely  mine." 

"I  should  be  ungrateful,  indeed,  if  they  were  not, 
Uncle  Will." 

Sitting  thus  closely  together,  their  respective  coun 
tenances  informed  by  the  same  feeling,  senior  and  junior 
resembled  each  other  quite  strongly  enough  to  have  been 
father  and  son.  The  invalid  experience  of  the  younger 
man,  by  banishing  temporarily  from  his  complexion  its 
wonted  purpureum  lumen  juventce,  had  assimilated  his 
face  more  nearlvto  that  of  his  Uncle  ;  and  now  the 
heavier  cast  of  mental  dejection  imitated  the  settled 
gravity,  if  not  the  sternness,  of  the  older  man's  expres 
sion.  In  the  darker  brown  hair  of  the  senior  an  admix 
ture  of  grey,  and  in  the  deeper  blue  of  his  eyes  a  colder 
gleam,  preserved  yet  the  unchangeable  distinction  be 
tween  rebounding  youth  and  passively  self-recording 
middle  years ;  but,  for  all,  there  was  a  certain  general 
look  about  Belmore,  at  present,  in  which  a  critical  ob 
server  might  have  detected  a  suggestive  incipience  of  a 
maturer  aspect  ominously  similar  to  his  Uncle's. 
Colonel  Daryl  saw  his  own  likeness  growing  stronger 
before  him,  as  he  scrutinized  the  face  half  turned  away 
against  the  high  back  of  the  easy-chair.  He  also  per 
ceived  that  the  intentness  of  his  regard  disturbed  the 


•      ED  WIN' S  D  UTY  AS  A  NEPHE  W.  317 

weakened  nerves  of  the  youth,  and  both  relaxed  his 
gaze  and  softly  withdrew  the  caressing  hand. 

"  You  took  leave  of  the  Effinghams  last  night,"  the 
Colonel  said,  in  an  ordinary  tone. 

"  Yes  ;  I  called,  and  we  said  good-bye,"  was  the  an 
swer,  rather  mechanically  returned. 

"  You  saw  all  of  them,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  even  that  little  beggar  of  a  Cherub  was  in 
the  room.  It  must  have  been  by  an  oversight  that  the 
Swiss  butler  did  not  appear  in  the  group." 

Not  for  an  instant  did  the  Colonel  misapprehend  the 
cause  of  this  ironical  touch.  Pretending  not  to  observe 
it,  however,  he  went  on : 

"  So  much  for  being  popular  with  a  whole  family.  I 
can  believe  that  you  were  very  sorry,  all  around,  at 
parting." 

"  I  was  less  sorry,  myself,  than  I  had  expected  to  be, 
I  must  say,"  returned  the  nephew,  temper  suddenly 
sparkling  in  his  eyes. 

"Sorrow,  like  joy,  always  loses  something  by  transi 
tion  from  anticipation  to  reality,"  his  uncle  rejoined, 
quickly,  with  the  air  of  having  heard  nothing  out  of  the 
commonplace.  "  You  and  I  have  greatly  admired  this 
interesting  foreign  family,  my  boy,  and  felt  grateful  for 
their  charming  courtesies  to  us  ;  but,  after  all,  they  are 
foreigners  ;  not  exactly  our  own  kind  :  and  it  is  natural 
that  the  crucial  test  of  a  final  farewell  should  positively 
surprise  ourselves  by  its  revelation  to  us  of  the  differ 
ence  between  a  reasoned  sentiment  and  an  instinctive 
feeling.  For  my  own  part,  I  never  met  a  more  thor 
oughly  admirable  woman  than  Mrs.  Effingham  ;  yet,  in 
bidding  her  adieu,  my  regret  was  rather  like  what  I 
should  have  felt  in  looking  for  the  last  time  upon  a  sin 
gularly  sweet  picture,  than  like  what  we  should  expect 
to  feel  in  losing  a  cherished,  familiar  associate.  "With 


318  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

all  their  unstudied  kindness  of  manner,  the  people  of 
this  family  never  bring  themselves  actually  so  near  to 
you  as  the  superficial  seeming  is  ;  nor  do  you  identify 
yourself  so  closely  with  them  as  your  occasional  sensi 
bility  of  particular  attraction  might  lead  you  to  believe. 
When  a  test — such,  for  instance,  as  parting — arises,  you 
are  inclined  to  be  angry  with  yourself  for  not  being  more 
deeply  moved.  I  understand  exactly  the  sensation  you 
have  described,  Edwin ;  but  must  warn  you  that  the 
natural  excitement  of  the  occasion  probably  deadened, 
or,  at  least,  distracted,  your  sense  of  loss,  somewhat,  at 
the  time  ;  and  that  you  are  likely  to  regret  your  Ameri 
can  friends — and  particularly  that  lovely  girl — far  more 
acutely  a  week  hence  than  you  do  now." 

With  the  wisdom  of  a  good  moral  surgeon,  he  deemed 
it  best  to  probe  boldly  the  wound  to  which  he  had  ad 
dressed  himself,  while  yet  it  was  new  ;  though,  at  the 
same  time,  observing  a  due  caution  of  gradual  penetra 
tion  to  its  more  critical  depths.  He  would  watch  the 
deepest  pulse  and  be  not  altogether  regardless  of  the 
mute  wincing  ;  but  as  for  the  patient's  verbal  signs; — 
well,  some  of  them,  certainly,  must  be  passed  over  quite 
unheedingly. 

That  patient,  however,  did  not  appreciate  the  matter- 
of-course  acceptance  given  to  words  by  which  he  meant 
to  express  an  unusual  grievance,  and  protest  against  it. 

"  I  was  not  so  sorry  at  the  parting  as  I  had  expected 
to  be,"  saidBelmore  ;  "  because  I  felt  disappointed  and 
angry  at  being  suddenly  treated  with  ceremony — and  on 
such  an  occasion,  too ! — where  I  had  always  before 
found  an  unreserve  almost  as  complete  as  though  I  be 
longed  to  the  family.  It  provoked  me  ;  but,  all  the 
same,  I  wish  I  'd  never  come  back  here  from  Bruni !  " 

"  They  were  not  so  ceremonious  with  you  when  you 
left  them  to  risk  your  life  ?  " 


EDWIN'S  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  319 

"  I  did  not  give  them  the  chance  then.  There  was  an 
opportunity  to  say  the  good-byes  that  were  hardest  for 
me  before  the  general  leave-taking  came." 

"  Ah,  I  see  :  it  was  hardest  for  you  to  bid  farewell  to 
Mrs.  Emngham  and  her  daughter  ;  so  you  said  your 
special  parting  words  to  them,  individually,  in  advance 
of  the  usual  family  form  of  good  speeding." 

"Well — yes,"  said  the  young  man,  hesitating  wear 
ily,  "that  was  about  it,  I  suppose." 

"  You  were  not  treated  coldly  last  night  ?  " 

"  Why,  no,  Uncle  Will,  not  coldly— not  at  all  coldly : 
everybody  was  kind.  But— but— that  'family  form' 
you  speak  of :  it  struck  me  as  being  especially  adopted 
to  keep  me  strictly  to  the  flattest  commonplaces,  just 
when  I  was  heartsick  to  be  humored  to  the  last  degree. " 
With  an  impatient  movement  the  speaker  straightened 
in  his  chair,  and  glanced  out  towards  the  sunny  veran 
da,  where  two  or  three  figures  were  passing  at  the  mo 
ment. 

' '  I  take  it  for  granted  that  there  was  some  observ 
ance  of  prescribed  ceremony  in  your  introduction  to  this 
family  in  Batavia,"  hinted  the  Uncle,  relapsed  now  into 
a  wholly  unemotional  demeanor. 

"Oh,  that,  of  course." 

"  Then,  Edwin,  I  must  reprove  you  for  being  both 
unreasonable  and  unjust  in  looking  for  so  wide  a  differ 
ence  between  the  formal  beginning  of  the  acquaintance 
and  its  formal  close." 

The  youth  started  and  turned  paler  ;  but  simply 
looked  earnestly  at  his  uncle,  without  speaking. 

"You  must  bear  in  mind,  my  dear  boy,"  pursued 
that  mentor,  in  the  same  even  tone,  "that  people 
esteeming  themselves  as  possessed  of  a  certain  unques 
tionable  social  superiority,  resort  to  ceremony  with 
casual  associates  only  at  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 


320  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

the  association ;  because,  regarding  those  associates  as 
casual  only,  it  does  not  occur  to  them  that  any  cere 
monious  forms  can  be  "requisite  to  deter  them  from  the 
presumptuousness  of  fancying  themselves  eligible  for  a 
permanent  intimacy.  It  is  incumbent  upon  the  well- 
bred  to  yield  exact  politeness  to  everybody ;  to  resort 
to  ceremony  simply  when  others  are  justified  in  expect 
ing  it ;  and  it  is  not  politeness  to  a  respectable  passing 
acquaintance,  to  take  final  leave  of  him  with  an  uncere 
monious  disregard  of  the  considerate  forms  which  had 
practically  been  his  guarantee  of  temporary  uncritical 
affiliation  at  his  introduction.  If,  at  the  beginning  of  a 
steamer-voyage,  I  receive  any  stranger  casually  intro 
duced  to  me  with  the  form  of  respect  due  to  an  attested 
gentleman,  I  am  bound,  if  he  does  not  wittingly  offend 
me,  to  forget  no  gentlemanly  form  in  taking  leave  of 
him  on  our  separation  at  the  journey's  close.  Other 
wise,  I  indicate  that  he  has  given  me  some  cause  to 
hold  him  in  less  respect  than  at  our  first  meeting.  The 
Effinghams  are  too  well  bred  to  have  shown  you  that 
slight." 

A  dazed  expression  came  over  Belmore's  counte 
nance  ;  and  a  flush,  too,  as  though  he  resented  as  much 
of  the  speech  as  he  could  clearly  understand. 

' '  I  might  fancy  you  were  talking  of  some  affable 
royal  family  condescending  to  a  garrulous  wayside 
peasant!"  he  exclaimed,  a  little  irritably.  "Such  in 
sufferable  assumption  would  be  impossible  to  people 
like  the  Effinghams.  I  know  nothing  more  of  their 
social  quality  at  home  than  you  have  told  me,  yourself; 
but  I  am  sure  that  not  one  of  them  knows  what  it  is  to 
have  an  arrogant  sensation." 

"  No  :  not  arrogant.  They  are  too  proud,  my  boy, 
to  be  either  vain,  or  arrogant !"  retorted  the  uncle, 
smiling  at  his  simple-mindedness.  "  So  experienced 


EDWIN' 8  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  321 

and  shrewd  an  observer  as  Doctor  Hedland  finds  Mr. 
Effingham  one  of  the  most  thorough  aristocrats  he  has 
ever  met.  I  have  extracted  from  the  Eajah  and  Mr. 
Williamson  the  substance  of  the  American's  dinner- 
table  essay  on  his  country,  that  impressed  the  Doctor  in 
this  peculiar  manner,  and  can  see  how  it  was  calculated 
to  make  such  an  impression  on  such  an  acute  mind. 

"  From  my  own  not  wholly  pleasant  recollections  of 
the  United  States  I  am  able  to  confirm  the  assertion, 
that  affiliation  with  political  party,  there,  is  more  pro 
nouncedly  a  matter  of  social  selection  than  in  any  other 
nation  on  the  globe.  In  the  Southern  States  of  the 
Union,  where  slavery  supplies  the  whole  laboring  class, 
and  the  indigents  who  are  not  slaves  are  contemned 
political  nonentities — there  is  only  one  party  for  all 
times — that  of  the  planting  autocracy.  In  the  three 
other  great  sections  of  the  mighty  republic  there  is,  as 
practically,  but  one  party  of  Gentlemen,  as  Mr.  Effing- 
ham  says,  however  it  may  transfer  its  inevitably  decid 
ing  power  from  one  scale  of  the  national  political  bal 
ance  to  the  other,  as  one  or  the  other  alienates  its  moral 
and  social  sympathies. 

"  A  visitor  having  any  just  knowledge  of  the  respect 
ive  social  averages  of  the  two  immediate  parties,  can 
pick  out  of  an  ordinary  American  social  assemblage,  in 
ten  minutes,  the  members  of  either  organization.  Both 
have  wealthy,  educated  and  morally  unimpugnable 
affiliants :  but  there  is  always  a  certain  permanent 
social  superiority  of  personal  suggestion,  no  less  than 
an  obviously  higher  intellectual  quality,  to  distinguish 
the  one  affiliation  from  the  other.  I  have  heard  stories 
of  American  sons  and  daughters  being  disinherited  and 
disowned  for  marrying  out  of  their  political  castes,  and 
you  can  judge  for  yourself  how  easily  they  may  have 
been  true. 


322  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"Doctor  Hedland  regards  such  a  system  as  stimu 
lative  of  an  aristocratic  spirit,  equalling  that  which 
preceded  the  French  Kevolution.  He  infers — and  I 
agree  with  him — that  when  a  man  like  Mr.  Effingham 
cites  this  system  to  prove  that  his  country's  political 
destinies  are  ideally  at  the  command  of  that  country's 
highest  type  of  cultivated  and  refined  Anglo-Saxon 
human  nature  ;  with  the  implication  that  he,  as  a  mat 
ter  of  course,  belongs  to  that  type  ;  he  illustrates  about 
as  much  pride  as  it  is  pleasant  to  encounter  in  an  in 
dividual." 

"But  why  are  you  explaining  all  this  to  me,  Uncle 
Will?"  queried  the  younger  man,  looking  more  and 
more  unhappy.  "What  pride  have  the  Effinghams 
ever  shown  to  us,  at  any  rate  ?  What  occasion  have 
we  ever  given  them  to  exhibit  anything  of  the  kind  ?  I 
don't  believe  that  they  have  a  bit  more  than  you  and  I. 
That  long  dinner-table  speech  was  a  kind  of  parliamen 
tary  device,  I  am  sure,  to  suppress  Dr.  Hedland's  cross- 
grained  catechising.  Mr.  Williamson  thinks  so,  too. 
It  is  of  little  account  to  me,  now,  whether  the  Effing- 
hams  think  much  or  little  of  themselves  ;  but  it  seems 
to  me  impossible  for  people  to  be  more  free  from  every 
form  of  ostentation." 

"Ostentation?"  repeated  Colonel  Daryl,  raising  his 
grizzled  eyebrows.  '•  Oh,  no  !  theirs  is  not  the  class  to 
need  that.  It  is  a  class  distinctively  unostentatious  at 
home  ;  not  the  one,  by  any  means,  made  notorious  by 
phenomenal  wealth  and  coveting  titled  foreign  alliances  ; 
and  when  you  meet  its  representatives  abroad,  they 
are  quietly  dignified,  finely  educated,  peculiarly  well- 
dressed  men  and  women,  to  whom  the  best  English  and 
Continental  circles  are  opened  as  a  matter  of  course, 
and  who  never  dream  of  being  less  than  the  peers  of 
the  best  who  can  entertain  them." 


EDWIN'S  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  323 

"I  had  formed  a  different  idea  of  Americans,"  said 
Belmore,  rather  listless  again.  "The  newspapers  of 
the  United  States  which  I  have  seen  at  Singapore  and 
other  ports,  have  a  tone  in  speaking  of  social  matters 
that  seems  as  though  society  there  must  be  different 
from  ours." 

"Your  mistake  is  common  to  all  Europeans  who 
know  the  States  only  by  that  criterion,"  answered  his 
uncle.  "  The  proprietorships  of  American  journalism 
rest  almost  wholly  in  the  lower  rank  of  the  great  mid 
dle-class  of  society ;  because  that  class,  chiefly,  origin 
ates  both  of  the  principal  political  parties,  and  the 
newspapers  are  but  subordinate  political  agencies. 
You  might  as  well  gauge  the  highest  metropolitan 
society  of  England  by  the  social  tone  of  the  average 
provincial  Parliamentary  committee.  In  no  other  great 
country  of  the  world  are  journalists  and  journalism  so 
socially  insignificant ;  and  as  newsmongering  is  but  a 
trade  for  a  living,  like  any  other,  it  may  be  that  this 
limitation  for  it  is  the  philosophically  true  one. 

"At  any  rate,  my  dear  boy,  the  American  society 
of  American  newspapers  is  not  the  grade  with  which 
you  and  I  have  had  to  do.  The  American  gentleman 
who  holds  himself  as  good,  socially,  as  any  European 
nobleman  of  endless  pedigree,  has  need  to  show  an 
ancestry  of  only  four  or  five  educated  and  independ- 
ently-estated  generations,  and  scorns  to  go  back  into  any 
foreign  genealogy  for  the  guarantee  of  equality  with  the 
world's  highest  that  he  deems  sufficiently  assured  by 
his  own  proud  nationality.  If  you  can  understand  the 
commonest  springs  of  human  emotion,  Edwin,  you  must 
perceive  that  an  individual  pride  thus  imperiously 
grounded  in  an  assumed  exceptional  prerogative  of  na 
ture,  as  it  were,  is  the  last  to  be  safely  mistaken  for  dem 
ocratic  insensibility." 


324  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

The  nephew,  heavy-hearted  and  restless,  did  not  yet 
perceive  that  all  this  unwonted  avuncular  expatiation  in 
social  philosophy  was  an  artful  drawing  of  a  net  closer  and 
closer  about  himself,  so  that  when  he  did  at  last  become 
aware  of  it  he  could  struggle  to  but  little  effect.  He 
had,  however,  a  vague  sense  of  something  in  it  that 
gave  to  his  parting  with  the  American  family  a  fateful 
meaning  growing  more  significant  to  his  apprehension 
every  moment. 

"  I  thought,  Uncle,  that  Mrs.  Efnngham.  particularly, 
gave  no  reason  to  you,  at  least,  for  considering  the 
family  a  very  haughty  one, "  he  said,  for  want  of  stronger 
argument. 

"  She  is  thoroughly  a  lady,  by  instinct  as  well  as  edu 
cation,  and  would  not  stoop  to  the  pretension  that  my 
past  relations  with  a  member  of  her  family  did  not 
entitle  me  to  her  peculiar  consideration.  To  have  acted 
differently,  would  have  been  to  give  me  an  advantage 
of  moral  dignity  over  her,  and  those  of  her  name,  in 
the  matter  concerned." 

"But /had  no  past  relations  to  make  them  all  so 
freely  kind  to  me,"  urged  Edwin. 

"  You  had  only  your  own  seeming  as  an  educated, 
gentlemanly  young  man,  in  an  honorable  profession, 
and  they  relaxed  to  you  as  an  agreeable  fellow-traveler 
whose  merely  passing  association  called  for  no  conven 
tional  formalities — nor  precautions." 

"  Precautions  !"  echoed  the  young  man,  his  counte 
nance  changing  as  he  began  to  catch  at  last  the  true 
drift  of  the  talk. 

"  That  was  my  term,"  replied  the  Colonel,  with  con 
tinued  cool  precision.  "  If  you  had  been  introduced  to 
them  at  their  home,  with  a  prospect  of  any  permanent 
association,  they  might  have  thought  it  necessary  to  put 
some  precautionary  restrictions,  for  instance,  upon  your 


ED  WIN'  8  D  UTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  325 

attentions  to  their  charming  daughter.  I  dreaded, 
Edwin,  that  my  too  long  indulgence  of  your  disposition 
to  make  the  most,  here,  of  your  new  friends,  might  be 
fraught  with  a  cruel  danger  for  you  in  that  quarter.  I 
can  not  express  to  you  the  relief  I  feel  in  knowing  that 
you  had  too  much  manly  English  pride  to  fall  into  a 
folly  whose  fruit  would  have  been  sure  disappointment 
and  lifelong  indignity." 

Leaning  back  in  the  easy-chair,  with  hands  clasped 
across  his  face,  Belmore  made  no  sign  of  a  wish  to  speak. 
His  uncle  watched  him,  with  a  curious  mixture  of  com 
passion  and  satisfaction  in  his  look,  and  went  on  : — 

"  But  as  I  am  not  disposed,  myself,  to  leave  any  pos 
sible  implication  of  a  lesser  pride  than  that,  for  our 
selves,  behind  us,  I  preluded  your  farewell  call  at  the 
house  with  a  special  visit  of  my  own,  to  request  that 
you  should  be  treated  with  the  parting  ceremony  to 
which  you  have  taken  exception." 

"  You  did  that,  Uncle  ?"  exclaimed  his  nephew, 
aghast,  starting  to  arise. 

"I  did  that,"  assented  the  Colonel,  gently  pushing 
him  back  into  the  seat," — and  I  did  it  to  spare  you  and 
myself  the  humiliation  of  seeing  the  same  course  inev 
itably  pursued,  without  our  having  had  the  advantage 
of  dictating  it  for  ourselves." 

"  Then  you  have  sacrificed  me,  if  not  another,  also, 
to  your  own  pride,  sir  !"  was  the  fiercely  passionate  cry 
of  the  unhappy  youth  ;  now  sitting  bolt  upright,  and 
facing  his  unwilling  tormentor  defiantly. 

"  That  is  a  hot-blooded  accusation  not  likely  to  be 
maintained  by  your  cooler  reflection,  my  poor  boy," 
said  Colonel  Daryl. 

"  Uncle  Will,  forgive  me,"  pleaded  Belmore,  in  quick 
revulsion  of  feeling  ;  u  I  did  not  mean  that. — But  you 
surely  misjudge  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Effingham,  and  have 


326  THERE  WAS  ONGE  A  MAN. 

obliged  them  to  do  that  which— now  that  I  understand 
it  all — is  likely  to  break  my  heart. ' ' 

"I  know  them  well,  Edwin,"  returned  his  Uncle, 
sternly  emphasizing  each  word.  "  To  prove  that  I  do, 
you  shall  be  taken  into  my  confidence  as  no  less  an  exi 
gency  would  make  suitable  to  our  respective  years  and 
relations.  You  see  what  I  am :— a  middle-aged  old 
man,  without  ambition,  settled  home,  or  care  for  any  of 
the  prizes  of  life.  You  find  me  practically  an  aimless 
lingerer  here,  in  this  savage  remoteness  from  my  coun 
try  and  all  family  ties  ;  making  pretext  of  search  after 
a  mad  runaway  plunderer  of  papers,  long  since  dead 
and  turned  to  undistinguisable  dust,  though  that  is  only 
a  pretense  of  definite  aim  to  save  myself  from  the  com 
plete  inanity  of  an  unmanly  despair !  Unmanly  it  is 
—I  know  and  avow  it !  But  I  am  a  broken  man,  Ed 
win,  and  so  have  been  for  twenty  heavy  years.  Even 
to  your  inexperienced  youthful  judgment  I  cannot  be 
without  indication  of  capacities  for  something  far  differ 
ent  from  this.  And  have  you  ever  guessed  why  I  am 
what  I  am  ?  The  secret  shall  be  revealed  to  you  in  full 
now  :  my  life  was  wrecked  twenty  years  ago  by  the 
pride  of  Mrs.  Efnngham's  family." 

"I  know,"  assented  the  young  man,  inclining  his 
head,  sadly. 

"  A  part— not  all,"  corrected  the  Colonel.  "  It  has 
been  no  slight  humiliation  for  me,  Nephew,  to  be  re 
garded  by  yourself  and  others  as  the  moody  and  em 
bittered,  lifelong  victim  of  a  common  sentimental 
disappointment.  Has  it  never  jarred  with  your  gen 
eral  conception  of  my  dominant  traits,  to  see  me 
enduring,  rather  than  living, 'my  life,  apparently 
because  a  woman  whom  I  had  greatly  admired  in 
my  youth  could  not  be  mine  ?" 

"  I  may  confess  to  you,  Uncle,  since  you  ask  me,  that 


EDWIN'S  DUTY  A8  A  NEPHEW.  327 

I  had  suspected  some  more  unusual  cause  for  your  un- 
likeness  to  other  men  of  your  energetic  years,  before 
you  told  me  of  your  tender  memory  of  a  sister  of  Mrs. 
Effingham." 

"I  am  glad  to  be  assured,  my  dear  boy,  that  your 
partiality  invests  me  with  virile  qualities  of  mind  incon 
gruous  with  such  an  effect  from  such  a  cause  only.  You 
think  that  you  are,  yourself,  a  present  sufferer  from  an 
adversity  somewhat  in  the  same  line.  I  will  not  dis 
guise  from  you,  Edwin,  that  your  feelings  relative  to 
Miss  Effingham  are  perfectly  well  known  to  me  ;  nor  do 
I  underestimate  the  misery  of  hopelessness  that  this 
very  conversation  of  ours  is  making  the  more  immedi 
ately  poignant.  But,  believe  me,  you  will  overlive  this 
trouble  ;  because  its  occasion  has  been  merely  the  denial 
of  an  aspiration  you  were  really  not  conscious  of  having 
definitely  entertained  until  you  saw  that  it  was  denied. 

"So.  too,  if  fortuitous  circumstances  had  allowed 
your  association  with  this  lovely  girl  to  reach  the  inev 
itable  decisive  interposition  of  insuperable  parental 
objection,  your  sore  hurt,  aggravated,  albeit,  by  some 
humiliation — thank  me  for  sparing  you  that ! — would 
yet  have  been  healed  by  time.  Even  had  rejection 
been  yours  from  the  rosy  lips  you  had  fondly  thought 
propitious  to  your  dearest  hopes,  you  would  have  found 
an  ultimately  comforting  reassurance  even  in  the  reflec 
tion,  that,  perhaps,  those  same  impetuous  hopes  had 
caused  you  to  misinterpret  the  simply  natural  gracious- 
ness  of  amiable  girlhood. 

"  Love's  injuries,  in  man  or  woman,  are  repaired  the 
sooner  for  a  consciousness  that  our  own  wilful  misap 
prehensions,  and  not  the  disdainful  coquetries  of  others, 
have  precipitated  their  infliction.  Death  itself,  how 
ever  harrowing  in  time  and  circumstance,  can  not  so 
wring  the  devoted  heart  bereaved,  that  years  of  manful 


328  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN 

courage  and  duty  should  not  bring  it  final  acknowledged 
compensation." 

Colonel  Daryl  was  now  sitting  with  his  body  inclined 
slightly  forward,  a  hand  resting  heavily  on  either  knee, 
and  his  eyes  downcast.  After  a  short  pause  he  went 
on,  without  change  of  attitude  or  look  : 

"No  ordinarily  sensitive  human  being,  however 
youthful  and  elastic,  is  ever  exactly  the  same  in  dis 
position  and  character  after  an  intentional,  or  a  reck 
less,  deception  of  the  deeper  affections.  Such  experience 
impresses  even  volatile  natures  with  an  insidious  lesser 
faith  in  the  honest  genuineness  of  average  human  char 
acter,  that  coarsens  the  grain  of  all  future  passionate 
affinity,  and  more  or  less  harshly  distorts  the  finest 
natural  rhythm  of  a  life.  The  jilted  man — or  woman 
— is  never  so  spontaneously  good  thereafter,  and  may 
even  turn  from  good  to  bad. 

"You  see,  Edwin,"  the  Colonel  continued,  slowly 
raising  his  eyes  once  more  to  his  nephew's  gravely 
attentive  face, — "I  make  every  allowance  for  the  de 
scription  of  wound  oftenest  bewailed  as  the  cruelest  by 
poets  and  romancers.  Its  peculiar  cruelty  lies  not  in  the 
mere  disappointment  of  tenderness  it  involves, — for  that 
might  be  bravely  overlived — but  in  the  irretrievable 
lowering  it  gives  to  every  delicate  proud  instinct  of  self- 
respect.  Yet  there  may  be  a  wound  even  crueller  to 
the  loving  heart  than  that ;  a  wound  as  terrible  as  Dis 
honor,  to  a  high  nature,  though  not  conventionally  dis 
honoring  ;  a  wound  implying  all  the  ineffaceable 
indignity  of  love's  betrayal,  though  without  even  the 
temporary  relief  of  that  just,  revengeful  rage  which  out 
raged  faith  may  make  a  retribution  for  its  outward 
humiliation.  That  wound  has  been  mine,  Nephew  ; — 
is  mine  now  ;  for  twenty  years  have  wrought  no  cure — 
and  it  was  given  by  the  only  woman  I  ever  loved." 


EDWIN'S  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  329 

Edwin  Belmore  gazed  questioningly  into  the  stern 
face,  grown  more  eloquent  to  him  than  ever  before  of  a 
profoundly  rooted  wrong. 

"  I  hardly  know  that  I  understand  you,"  he  said. 

"  You  have  been  told  that  I  greatly  admired  a  sister 
of  Mrs.  Effingham,  in  my  youth,  and  that  she  died  soon 
after  my  return  with  Doctor  Hedland  from  the  United 
States.  It  remains  for  you  to  be  informed  that  Miss 
Dornton  became  my  wife." 

"Your  wife!"  ejaculated  his  nephew,  starting  elec 
trically,  and  turning  deathly  pale. 

"  For  an  hour — scarcely  for  one  hour.  And  then,  at 
the  bidding  of  an  imperious  mother,  she  discarded  me 
with  contumely  !" 

"Can  this— can  this  be  so,  Uncle?"  exclaimed  the 
young  man,  with  half-incredulous  wonder,  his  face  now 
flushing  hotly,  while  his  uncle's  whitened. 

Leaning  farther  forward,  Colonel  Daryl  impressively 
laid  his  right  hand  upon  the  youth's  nearer  arm  : 

"  My  nephew,  I  have  been  spurned  by  a  wife ;  not 
for  any  offense  as  a  husband,  but  because  a  proud 
mother  had  taught  her  so  soon  to  repent  '  bitterly ' — 
that  was  her  own  word  ! — having  given  her  hand  to  one 
so  poor  and  lowly  as  a  Daryl." 

"My  dear  Uncle  Will !"  cried  Belmore,  catching  the 
extended  hand  between  both  of  his  own ;  his  eyes 
flashing  and  nostrils  dilating — "did  those  Americans 
dare  to  treat  an  English  gentleman  so  infamously  ?" 

The  Colonel  reflected  his  indignant  look  with  a  mo 
mentary  proud  satisfaction.  It  was,  however,  an 
evanescent  emotion  :  the  old,  drawn  lines  of  gloomy 
thought  came  back  to  his  face,  as,  with  a  parting 
pressure,  he  withdrew  his  hand,  and  continued : 

"  You  must  not  be  unjust,  my  dear  boy  :  the  family- 
feeling  in  the  matter  had  some  justification,  as  you  may 


330  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

judge  from  what  I  have  yet  to  tell  you.  My  chief 
acquaintance  with  Miss  Dornton  was  in  New  York 
society,  during  a  visit  she  was  making  at  the  home  of 
friends  in  that  city.  Circumstances  allowed  us  to  see 
much  of  each  other  in  a  comparatively  short  period  of 
time,  as  I  visited,  also,  at  the  mansion  where  she  was 
staying,  and  enjoyed  the  esteem  of  the  family.  The 
story  shall  be  short  for  you,  Edwin  :  we  fell  madly  in 
love,  and  when  the  time  for  her  return  to  her  own 
suburban  home  approached,  our  common  childish  ter 
ror  of  possible  parental  interference  with  our  romance 
drove  me  to  propose,  and  her  to  consent,  that  we  should 
slip  into  a  parsonage,  at  the  close  of  an  hour's  prome 
nade,  one  day,  and  be  married.  A  few  hours  later,  my 
bride's  mother,  alarmed  at  what  she  had  heard  of  our 
frequent  companionship,  carried  her  back  to  her  home ; 
being  informed  of  the  marriage,  on  the  way. 

"  You  may  believe  that  I  lost  no  time  in  following  : — 
not  for  the  purpose  of  any  immediately  peremptory  de 
monstration  as  the  possessor  of  a  husband's  legal 
authority,  but  to  appeal  solely  to  my  young  wife's 
reciprocal  love  for  the  strongest  plea  we  could  unit 
edly  make  for  what  we  had  so  impulsively  done.  I 
expected,  and  realized  that  I  deserved,  the  severest 
parental  reprobation.  I  was  even  honest  enough  in  my 
conscience  to  confess  to  myself,  that  the  strongest 
family  influence  and  legitimate  control  could  be  justi 
fiably  exerted  against  a  claim  I  had  so  exceptionally 
established.  What  I  depended  upon,  solely,  for  ulti 
mate  pardon  and  acceptance,  was  my  wife's  unshaken 
confidence  in  my  love  and  her  own.  We  could  bear 
temporary  condemnation— even  probationary  separa 
tion, — with  that  supreme  plea  for  final  justice. 

"I  saw  Mrs.  Dornton,  and  was  not  surprised,  nor 
indignant,  at  her  sternly  haughty  repulse ;  but  when 


EDWIN'S  DUTY  AS  A  NEPHEW.  331 

my  bride  appeared,  and,  with  face  buried  on  her  moth 
er's  bosom,  bitterly  renounced  me, — disregarded  my 
every  passionate  appeal — as  an  honorable  man  I  could 
do  no  less  than  release  her  at  once  from  a  pledge  that 
had  brought  to  me  such  crowning  indignity  I" 

"And  that  was  the  woman  to  whom  your  life  has 
been  a  sacrifice  !  "  said  Edwin. 

"She  was  constrained  to  it,  irresistibly,  by  the  will 
of  a  terrible  mother,"  rejoined  his  Uncle;  "and  paid 
the  penalty  with  her  soft  young  life  !  Purer,  sweeter, 
more  innocent,  girlish  soul  never  knew  mortal  tene 
ment.  But  that  mother  — !  She  is  dead,  too  ;  God 
forgive  her  !  Her  selfish  idolatry  of  the  child  nearest 
to  her  proud  heart  might  have  been  pardonable,  even  to 
me,  had  it  taken  any  less  sinister  revenge,  than  to  com 
pel  my  degradation  to  the  shame  of  a  discarded  hus 
band  by  the  lips  of  my  own  wife  !  You  can  now  under 
stand,  Edwin,  the  conciliating  gentleness  of  a  woman 
like  Mrs.  Effingham  to  you  and  myself.  Her  fine,  just 
sense  of  the  undeservedness  of  that  shame,  has  instigat 
ed  her  filial  duty  to  this  casual  atonement,  even  at  the 
peril  of  leading  you,  my  poor  boy,  into  a  fatally  delu 
sive  paradise." 

Some  indignant  fire  yet  shone  in  the  blue  eyes  of  the 
young  sailor,  whose  own  pride  felt  a  sharp  sting  from 
what  he  had  heard. 

"  Let  us  get  away  from  this  place,  at  once,  Uncle 
Will !  "  he  exclaimed,  impatiently  ;  leaving  his  chair, 
as  by  an  impulse  to  begin  preparation  for  such  depar 
ture  on  the  instant. 

"That  is  the  wise  course  for  both  of  us,"  returned 
Colonel  Daryl,  following  towards  the  door.  "  Governor 
Bonham's  friendship  must  be  taxed  no  further  to  ex 
empt  you  from  your  duty  on  the  Cressy,  and  I  should 
have  rejoined  my  command  a  month  ago.  We  will  take 


332  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

the  schooner  for  Singapore  this  very  day.  But,  tell  me, 
dear  boy," — placing  an  arm  across  Edwin's  shoulders— 
"  are  you  very  unhappy  ?  " 

Edwin  did  not  evade  his  gaze  of  anxious  scrutiny, 
though  there  was  a  slight,  suspicious  twitching  of  his 
upper  lip,  as  he  bravely  answered  : 

"I  think  that  I  can  learn  to  bear  my  cross,  sir. 
Thanks  to  your  watchful  kindness,  dear  Uncle,  it  is  the 
first  I  have  ever  known,  and  now  that  I  fully  under 
stand  what  you  have  suffered,  it  shall  be  my  effort  not 
to  impair  the  dignity  of  such  an  irreparable  sorrow  with 
the  pettiness  of  my  own  broken  illusions." 

"Every  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness,"  said 
the  Colonel,  moodily  shaking  his  head.  "  Your  trial 
is  no  light  one  ;  but  stand  it  as  resolutely  as  you  can  ; 
and  trust  to  me  for  all  the  help  that  affection  and 
sympathy  can  give.  Now  I  must  go  and  see  about  our 
schooner.  We  shall  soon  be  out  in  the  world  again, 
together ;  and  more  to  each  other,  dear  nephew,  than 
ever  before." 

On  being  left  to  himself,  Belmore  sought  temporary 
distraction  in  a  needlessly  hurried  gathering  of  his  va 
rious  scattered  property,  in  the  room  where  even  sick 
ness  had  not  been  without  its  dreamy  pleasures  for 
him.  He  was  in  the  condition  of  one  who,  after  a  night 
of  wearing,  haunted  fever,  takes  some  energizing  drug 
to  arouse  his  deadened  faculties,  and  finds  in  the  forced 
stimulation  only  a  kind  of  mechanical  excitement, 
through  all  of  which  lingers  vaguely  yet,  the  weary 
heaviness  of  the  fever's  course.  The  confidence  re 
posed  in  him  by  his  Uncle  had  stirred  his  thoughts  to  a 
sympathetic  and  resentful  activity,  under  which  their 
foregoing  dejection  was  in  a  measure  forgotten ;  but  the 
reaction  was  too  abrupt  to  be  long  sustained.  Through 
every  intervening  diversity  of  emotion,  the  heartsick- 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        333 

ness  of  the  preceding  evening's  then  scarcely  definable 
disappointment  came  drearily  back  to  him  again,  and 
the  affronted  pride  of  the  Daryls  did  not  suffice  to  with 
hold  from  it  the- tribute  of  a  sigh. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  DOCTOR    HAS  A  PATIENT  NOT  COUNTED  UPON. 

WITH  no  extraneous  irritant  to  affect  his  mind,  a  man 
of  Doctor  Hedland's  temperament  might  have  been  en 
viably  contented  in  the  village  of  Pa  Jenna.  A  white 
skin,  and  the  credit  of  belonging  to  the  same  nation 
with  the  invincible  Tuan  Besar  of  Kuchin,  were,  of 
themselves, qualifications  to  command  from  the  unsophis 
ticated  Dyaks  all  the  reverential  deference  and  unques 
tioning  obedience  due  to  a  superior  being.  Individual 
force  of  intellect,  and  the  wide  knowledge  of  human  na 
ture  acquired  by  extensive  travel,  enabled  the  scientist 
to  deepen  this  popular  prepossession  into  an  almost  ab 
ject  personal  subservience.  From  the  half-civilized 
Orang-Kaya  himself,  down  to  the  lisping  child,  every 
soul  in  the  village  revered  and  held  him  in  unspeakable 
awe  as  a  possessor  of  supernatural  powers  ;  and  his  com 
plete  sway  over  the  superstitious  imaginations  and  child 
ish  fears  of  the  untutored  creatures  could  not  be  other 
wise  than  grateful  to  his  true  Anglo-Saxon  egotism. 
Even  such  familiar  association  with  this  simple  people 
as  he  found  consistent  with  convenience  and  good 
policy,  had  none  of  the  disadvantages  which  would 
have  been  incident  to  colloquial  intimacy  with  as  great 
an  inferiority  of  intelligence  in  his  own  land  and  tongue. 


334  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAtf. 

Any  continuous  verbal  freedom  of  an  educated  man 
with  illiterate  speakers  of  his  native  language  tends, 
gradually,  to  the  depravity  of  his  own  lingual  usages, 
and  a  corresponding  relaxation  in  his  habitual  dignity 
of  thought.  And  this  insidious  intellectual  unrefme- 
ment  is  in  proportion  to  the  scarcely  cognizant  victim's 
magnanimity  of  social  instinct.  If  he  is  too  generously 
considerate  to  make  his  humble  associates  perpetually 
conscious  of  their  contrasting  ignorance,  he  will  wit 
tingly  adopt  their  own  rude,  careless  forms  of  expres 
sion,  in  ordinary  conversation  with  them ;  and  thus, 
unwittingly,  contract  meannesses  of  speech  calculated 
to  infect  average  silent  thinking  with  the  same  coarse 
degeneracy.  But  with  a  foreign  language  as  the  me 
dium  of  colloquy,  and  foreign  customs  to  be  familiarly 
tolerated,  there  are  an  inevitably  natural  guardedness  of 
diction  and  a  graduation  of  familiarity,  whereby  edu 
cated  mental  habit  is  rather  heightened  than  lowered. 
Thus,  the  English  naturalist  could  affiliate  domestically 
with  a  community  of  amiable  barbarians,  without  de 
preciation  of  his  finest  civilized  intellectualities. 

Indeed  there  had  been  only  too  much  danger,  that 
the  mental  effects  of  such  a  life  would  be  a  quite  insuf 
ferable  confirmation  of  the  Doctor's  already  sufficiently 
domineering  intellectual  arrogance.  His  scientific  iso 
lation,  optional  personal  relations,  and  habituation  to 
unquestioning  submission,  were  not  likely  to  soften  his 
normally  imperious  dogmatism  of  spirit ;  and  a  despotic 
terror  to  common  minds  he  might  really  have  become, 
but  for  the  retributive  humiliation  invoked  by  the 
temerity  of  his  own  vaunting  science.  From  the  time 
when  the  idea  had  begun  to  grow  upon  Hedland,  that 
the  ape,  Oshonsee,  was  an  indisputable  solution  of 
Nature's  mightiest  problem — a  key  incarnate  to  the 
whole  profound  system  of  creation— he  lost  more  and 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        335 

more  of  his  overbearing  positiveness  of  self-assertion ; 
changing  gradually  from  petulant  impatience  under 
any  mention  of  his  simian  phenomenon,  to  a  kind  of 
desperately  sullen  doggedness  of  persistence  in  a 
theory  that  certainly  exerted  a  most  disconcerting 
influence  upon  himself. 

To  theorize  slashingly  at  one's  ease,  from  the  speci 
mens  and  library  of  some  great  European  museum  of 
natural  history,  upon  the  fallacy  of  a  special  genesis  for 
the  so-called  human  species,  is  a  light  and  airy  literary 
amusement,  in  comparison  with  the  sinister  discom 
posure  of  a  conscientious  naturalist  forced  to  contem 
plate  a  miserably  living  apparent  integer  of  continuity 
between  brute-like  Man  and  man-like  Brute.  In  the 
one  case  your  dashing  savant  is  in  rather  a  more 
vain-gloriously  complacent  humor  with  himself  over 
the  learned  ingenuities  of  reasoning  wherefrom  vast 
consternation  may  be  expected  for  the  ingenuous  un 
scientific  herd ;  in  the  other,  all  the  sophistries  pos 
sible  to  the  mind  of  man  can  not  prevent  the  human 
soul's  sinking  aghast,  in  absolutely  confronting  some 
thing  at  once  Man  and  a  Soulless  being ! 

Doctor  Hedland's  changes  of  moral  aspect  must  be 
read  by  the  light  of  these  reflections,  in  order  to  be 
justly  understood.  The  ape-man  purchased  by  his 
gold  from  the  dark  Makota  was  surely,  if  slowly,  per 
verting  him  into  that  sordidly  despiritualized  mere  me 
chanic  of  reason,  a  Godless  thinker — one  who  took  no 
cognizance  of  the  cause  of  things  beyond  the  last-as 
certained  point  of  its  demonstration  in  tangible  matter. 
He  was  not  really  yet  aware  of  the  extent  of  this  per 
version  in  himself ;  only  feeling  its  desolating  influence 
in  the  rapid  decline  of  his  every  impulse  of  high-mind- 
edness,  and  a  peevish  disgust  with  all  human  aspir 
ation. 


336  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

The  home  of  this  materialistic  philosopher  has  been 
described  as  elevated  upon  lofty  piles  of  its  own,  a  short 
distance  around  one  of  the  lateral  bends  of  the  common 
gallery,  or  veranda,  of  the  uplifted  village  on  the  hill 
side  ;  connecting  with  that  veranda  by  a  Y-shaped 
bridge  of  bamboo.  Near  the  farther  end  of  the  primi 
tive  footway  last  mentioned,  upon  one  of  the  several 
oddly  rattanned,  but  by  no  means  uncomfortable  home 
made  chairs  of  his  earlier  devising,  our  naturalist  sat, 
puffing  his  pipe,  one  morning,  with  outstretched,  slip 
pered  feet  braced  against  the  rude  outer  railing  of  the 
veranda. 

Day  was  far  enough  advanced  for  the  village  to  be 
almost  wholly  deserted  by  its  active  out-of-door  work 
ers,  or  daily  rovers  abroad,  both  male  and  female.  At 
any  hour  there  was  comparative  retirement  for  him 
around  his  remote  corner  of  the  literal  highway,  where 
he  now  took  the  air ;  and  neither  human  shape  nor 
sound  interrupted  such  abstract  or  concrete  musings  as 
gave  involuntary  time  and  measure  to  the  pearly  little 
clouds  emitted  at  intervals  from  his  bearded  mouth. 
Overhead  was  an  etherial  canopy  very  similar  in  gen 
eral  texture  to  these  same  fragrant  fumes  of  the  cogita 
tive  weed — a  misty  fleece  tempering  the  Equatorial  sun 
to  a  demure  coquetry  with  a  veil  of  rain  yet  to  be 
wrung-out — and  the  atmosphere  around  volumed  cool 
and  aromatic  with  the  breath  of  the  nether  river  and 
the  low-hanging  odors  of  mountain  woodlands.  On  the 
threshold  of  the  detached  house,  across  the  quaint 
foot-bridge,  cuddled  the  wonderful  ape ;  his  knees 
drawn  up,  his  elbows  resting  upon  them,  and  his 
hands  supporting  jaws  whence  protruded  a  lighted 
pipe  like  unto  his  master's.  Attired,  too,  somewhat 
similarly  to  that  master,  in  blouse  and  trousers  of  faded 
blue  twilled  cotton,  only  a  Panama  hat,  or  even  a  black 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        337 

silk  skull-cap,  was  needed  to  make  him  a  humiliating 
smaller  parody  of  the  sage  on  the  tilted  chair. 

And  the  Doctor,  staring  at  nothing  in  particular, 
pondered  over  his  latest  discovery  in  what  he  was  surer 
and  surer  must  be  this  human  parody's  province  of  rea 
son.  In  exploring  the  lower  apartment,  or  enclosure, 
formerly  Oshonsee's  dormitory,  for  some  small  article 
astray,  he  had  found,  carefully  concealed  beneath  the 
sleeping-rnat  of  the  mias,  a  number  of  pieces  of  written 
paper — parts  of  letters  and  rejected  leaves  of  his  scien 
tific  diary— which  he  had  missed,  from  time  to  time. 
They  were  of  no  value ;  but  to  recover  them  thus 
argued  that  the  purloiner  must  have  feared  detection 
in  their  conveyance.  When  he  exhibted  them  to  the 
culprit,  the  latter  crouched  chattering  at  his  feet,  in 
obvious  deadly  fear,  exactly  as  when  the  pistol  went  off 
in  the  forest  of  Songi.  When,  after  a  moment's  silent 
conjecture,  he  placed  the  papers  within  the  breast  of 
his  coat, — by  way  of  experiment, — and  spoke  caress 
ingly,  the  animal  quickly  recovered  his  natural  de 
meanor.  From  thenceforth,  however,  Oshonsee  resisted, 
with  loud  cries  and  desperate  struggles,  every  effort  to 
consign  him  to  the  lower  apartment  at  night.  The  one 
spot  where  he  chose  to  spend  the  dark  hours  thereafter 
was  at  the  foot  of  his  master's  couch,  and  there  he  was 
finally  allowed  to  sleep. 

Now  what  process  of  unreasoning  instinct  could  be 
imagined  to  account  for  it  ?  Say  that  the  creature  pil 
fered  by  mischievous  instinct,  and  instinctively  feared 
punishment  upon  discovery  therein  ;  where  was  the  in 
stinctive  sequence  of  the  subsequent  strange  conduct  ? 
Apparently  there  was  a  peculiar  attraction  in  the  bits 
of  paper  for  the  ape,  and  where  they  were  he  wished  to 
be,  also. 

In  ascertaining  finally  that  Oshonsee  was  a  mias  of 


338  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Borneo,  from  a  region  untraversed  by  Europeans  until 
the  English  Rajah's  visit,  t*he  naturalist  was  obliged  to 
relinquish  all  his  theories  of  the  experiences  with  Eng 
lish-speaking  hunters  in  Sumatra,  which  might  have 
impressed  upon  the  creature  that  terror  of  English 
sounds  and  aversion  to  anything  like  military  accoutre 
ment,  so  violently  shown  by  him  in  his  captivity. 
There  was  also  a  yet  unsolved  mystery  in  the  episode 
of  the  harlequin-like  assault  on  Mr.  Dodge.  Further 
more,  Oshonsee's  occasional  vocal  demonstrations  were 
more  like  human  inarticulate  notes  than  the  Doctor  had 
cared  thus  far  to  assert  in  public,  and  the  very  "cough 
ing  and  pumping  "  utterances  from  which  the  name  had 
been  made  did  not  accord  satisfactorily,  to  his  ears,  with 
those  he  had  heard  from  the  Simunjon  miases. 

"  Tuan  Hedland,  may  I  speak  to  you  ?" 

Down  went  the  slippered  feet  from  the  bamboo  rail 
ing,  and  around  whisked  the  chair,  as  this  voice  at  his 
shoulder  recalled  the  Englishman  from  his  confusing 
speculations. 

"  Ah,  is  that  you,  Pa  Jenna  ?  I  thought  you  started 
down  the  river  long  ago.  What  is  it  ?" 

"  I  have  waited  for  Sejugah  to  go  first,  with  the 
young  men,  to  look  for  trees  they  can  climb  tonight 
after  honey.  Tuan,  you  must  beware  of  Sejugah  ! 
His  heart  is  black  against  you,  since  you  made  known 
that  it  was  the  head  of  a  mias  he  brought  as  his  trophy, 
when  the  maidens  had  laughed  at  his  empty  space  in 
the  '  head-house. '  He  is  in  disgrace  with  the  village  ; 
the  girls  and  the  children  imitate  the  voice  of  the  mias 
when  he  passes  them ;  and  some  of  my  people  tell  me 
that  he  has  sworn  to  do  you  harm  if  he  can." 

"  Thank  you  for  the  warning,  my  good  Orang-Kaya," 
answered  the  naturalist,  exhibiting  no  particular  emo 
tion.  "  I  shall  not  place  the  head-hunting  youth's  own 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        339 

head  in  the  '  head-house '  unless  he  does  more  than 
swear.  But,  now  that  I  think  of  it,  Pa  Jenna,  can  you 
tell  me  how  Sejugah  could  find  a  mias  to  kill  in  such  a 
place  as  the  foot  of  Gunong  Tubbang  ?  I  should  not 
have  believed  the  sly  fellow's  tale,  if  I  had  not  discov 
ered  that  the  head  must  have  belonged  to  a  different 
kind  of  mias  from  that  of  the  Sadong  and  Simunjon." 

"How  should  I  know,  Tuan?"  said  the  Dyak,  un 
easily,  and  with  a  marked  change  from  his  usual  tone 
of  unreserved  confidence.  "It  was  long  before  you 
came  here." 

"  I  see  that  you  do  not  wish  to  tell  me,"  went  on  the 
Doctor,  indifferently.  "  At  the  first  convenient  oppor 
tunity  I  shall  have  Kalong  row  me  up  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Stabad,  and  I  '11  take  a  closer  look  at  Tubbang,  for 
myself.  The  mountain  is  so  steep  that  I  've  never  tried 
to  climb  it.  Next  time,  however,  climb  it  I  will,  you 
may  be  sure,  and  look  for  that  cavern  which  the  Rajah 
of  Sarawak  has  told  me  exists  there."  He  scarcely  be 
lieved  that  the  Orang-Kaya  really  possessed  any  trust 
worthy  information  of  the  subject  in  question  ;  hence 
it  was  with  no  little  surprise  that  he  observed  the  hand 
some  barbarian's  increasing  perturbation  of  manner. 

Pa  Jenna  approached  him  more  closely,  at  the  same 
time  casting  a  quick,  wary  glance  around. 

"Babi-outan — the  wild  wood-hog — might  escape  more 
easily  the  spears  of  Sakarra,"  he  said,  in  a  low,  hurried 
voice,  "than  Pa  Jenna's  secret  the  all-wisdom  of  the 
Tuan  sirani.  It  is  true  that  Sejugah's  impious  hand 
slew  the  Eana-Antu — the  Spirit-Queen — of  the  sacred 
cavern  of  Gunong  Tubbang.  It  is  true  that  the  mad 
boy  closed  up  the  mouth  of  the  cavern,  lest  his  crime 
against  Jovata*  should  be  known  to  our  people.  They 

*  Dyak  and  Hindoo  name  for  Deity. 


340  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

believe  that  Rana-Antu  closed  it  herself  while  she  went 
a  journey,  and  that  her  son,  the  Antu  prince,  keeps  in 
it  a  watch  for  her  return." 

"  And  why  have  you  not  told  me  this  before  ?"  asked 
the  naturalist  with  angry  eagerness.  "Have  you  not 
known  my  great  wish  to  trace  the  mias  head  captured 
by  Sejugah,  to  the  body  it  was  taken  from  ?  You  have 
played  the  knave  with  me,  Pa  Jenna — with  me,  your 
niau — your  blood-friend  !" 

Abjectly  hanging  his  own  head  at  this  accusation, 
the  Orang-Kaya  humbly  replied  : 

"  Sejugah  is  the  son  of  my  father's  brother,  Tuan 
Hedland.  Vile  as  he  is,  I  could  not  denounce  him  to 
death." 

Doctor  Hedland  reflected  a  moment  before  rejoining : 

"That  is  some  excuse.  But  now,  Pa  Jenna,  you 
must  conceal  nothing  more  from  me.  You  say  that  the 
'  Antu '  prince  is  yet  shut-up  in  the  cave.  Was  he  ever 
seen?" 

"More  than  once,  by  Makota's  nakodaps,  in  their 
hunting,  Tuan,  before  our  great  Rajah  destroyed  the 
rebels  of  Siniawin.  His  mother  played  with  him  on 
the  mountain-side. ' ' 

A  swift,  odd  look  darted  at  the  yet  huddled  and 
smoking  Oshonsee,  was  the  Doctor's  first  commentary ; 
then  he  gave  his  right  knee  a  resounding  slap,  and  arose 
so  sharply  from  his  chair  that  his  Panama  hat  fell  off 
and  his  very  spectacles  seemed  to  be  jarred  awry. 

"Enough,  my  good  friend,  enough  !"  he  exclaimed, 
with  an  energetic  waving  motion  of  both  hands,  as  in 
impulsive  dismissal  of  one  who  could  tell  him  no  more. 

"  I  am  beginning  to  see  light  now  ! — Makota's  follow 
ers,  you  said  ? — Ah,  the  black-faced  rascal ! — Go  you, 
now,  Pa  Jenna  ;  this  makes  me  more  your  friend  than 
ever." 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        341 

"  Tuan  pardons  me  V"  queried  the  Dyak,  not  knowing 
whether  to  be  reassured  or  alarmed  at  this — to  him — 
incomprehensible  outbreak. 

"  Yes.    "We  shall  never  quarrel  again." 

"And  Tuan  Hedland  will  beware  of  the  mad  Seju- 
gah  ?" 

"  Trouble  yourself  not  about  that,  Pa  Jenna  ;  a  Mal 
acca  cane,  soundly  laid  on,  is  what  the  English  sirani 
give  to  mischievous  boys.  Be  off  to  your  prahu,  friend, 
that  you  may  return  by  nightfall." 

With  a  gesture  of  mute  submission  the  Orang-Kaya 
withdrew  to  the  nearest  ladder — opening  in  the  veranda ; 
thence  descending  with  practiced  agility  to  the  first  of 
the  series  of  slender  bamboo  rungs  on  the  tall  piles, 
and  so  on  down  to  the  jungled  hillside  and  the  water. 
Through  intervals  of  the  palm-leaves  the  naturalist  saw 
him  get  into  his  prahu,  and  marked  the  departure  of 
the  boat  in  the  direction  of  Leda  Tanah. 

At  this  time  the  whole  village  had  an  aspect  of  com 
plete  desertion  beyond  the  detached  "  batang"  house, 
or  bridged  mansion,  of  our  Englishman  ;  who,  turning 
the  corner  around  which  his  quarters  lay,  started  upon 
his  favorite  frequent  walk  on  the  long  aerial  gallery 
there  beginning  its  curious,  deck-like  prospective.  The 
children,  the  old  people  and  the  sick  kept  closely  within 
the  windowless  range  of  houses,  now  that  the  air  was 
chilly  and  rain  likely  to  fall ;  not  even  the  hanging  mats 
of  the  rude  doorways  being  drawn  aside.  ]STo  human 
eye  seemed  to  observe  the  meditative  pedestrian,  strid 
ing  thither  and  back,  with  hands  linked  behind  him  and 
head  thoughtfully  inclined  ;  no  other  living  figure  broke 
the  stretch  of  his  airy  road  along  the  tree-tops ;  no 
sounds  came  to  his  ears  but  those  made  by  the  swaying 
of  the  huge  Nypa  fronds  and  an  occasional  hoarse  bird, 
or  snarling  wild  dog,  in  the  nearer  hills. 


342  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Pa  Jenna's  crude  legend  of  the  mountain  cave  and 
its  "antus"  had  set  the  Doctor's  head  whirling  in  a 
train  of  new  and  not  yet  very  coherent  ideas.  The 
mias's  head,  so  like  Oshonsee's,  had,  then,  been  taken 
from  an  animal  not  only  of  the  Sarawak  Valley,  but — 
more  astounding  yet — a  cave-dweller  !  It  was,  indeed, 
the  head  of  a  female ;  and  the  legend  told,  also,  of  a 
young  mias,  that  had  been  seen  by  Makota's  hunting- 
parties.  What  other  could  Oshonsee  be  than  the  off 
spring  of  the  slain  "Rana-Antu,"  believed  by  the 
simple  villagers  to  be  shut  up  yet  in  the  cave  ?  A  wilder 
jumble  of  contradictions  in  natural  history  could  not 
have  been  presented  to  the  naturalist ;  yet  he  never 
doubted  for  a  moment  that  they  were  practical  truths. 
If  so,  Oshonsee  belonged  to  a  species  of  hitherto  un 
heard-of  cave-dwelling  apes — was,  in  fact,  farther  ad 
vanced  into  Human  rank  than  the  African  Bushman,  or 
the  so  frequently  rumored  Borneon  Panam !  How  it 
had  been  possible  for  only  a  mother  and  child  of  such  a 
race  to  appear  in  Sarawak,  was  one  of  those  many  mys 
teries  of  missing  links  which  Science  coolly  treats  as  of 
no  particular  consequence,  when  Theology  occasionally 
retorts  her  lofty  accusations  of  blind  credulity. 

The  peripatetic  philosopher  of  the  veranda  was  in 
full  fever  of  this  last  distraction  of  his  theorizing ; 
quite  careless,  if  even  conscious,  that  rain  was  begin 
ning  to  patter  around  him ;  when,  chancing  to  glance 
down  towards  the  river,  at  a  turn  of  his  walk,  he  beheld 
a  strange  canoe  paddling  gently  to  the  village  landing- 
place.  It  was  apparently  a  youthful  Chinaman  who 
handled  the  paddle,  standing  outside  of  the  peaked 
little  cabin  of  matting  usual  to  such  native  craft,  and 
when  the  prow  touched  shore  he  was  followed  up  the 
bank  by  a  figure  in  flowing  robes  and  a  curious  head 
dress,  coming  from  within  the  cabin  mentioned.  A 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        343 

suggestion  of  stealthiness  in  the  general  manner  of  the 
boat's  approach  did  not  lessen  the  curiosity  of  the 
observer  above,  and  he  kept  vigilant  watch  of  t'he  pro 
gress  of  such  unwonted  intruders,  between  trees  and 
through  thicket,  to  the  ladders.  Up  these  they  came 
with  the  same  familiar  and  noiseless  directness  that 
had  marked  their  first  step  ashore. 

Doctor  Hedland  was  at  but  a  short  distance  from  the 
bridge  to  his  own  house  when  the  strangers  reached  the 
veranda,  and  the  Chinaman  led  the  way  thitherwards 
as  immediately  as  though  he  and  his  fantastic  com 
panion  were  summoned  to  some  urgent  interview. 
The  conical  hat,  long,  braided  queue,  loose  blue  blouse 
and  trousers  of  this  individual,  attracted  but  for  a  mo 
ment  the  attention  of  the  naturalist,  who  had  recognized 
the  more  important  personage  in  robes  which  he  now 
knew  to  be  those  of  an  Arab  moullah,  or  priest.  The 
latter  :  a  man  of  medium  stature  and  wiry  frame,  with 
complexion  dark  almost  as  an  African's,  a  thickset 
graying  beard,  and  the  great  beak  of  the  sacred  rhi 
noceros  hornbill  fixed  barbarously  in  the  front  of  his 
dingy  turban  :  made  a  gesture  of  deference  as  he  drew 
near,  and  was  the  first  to  speak  : 

"  You  are  a  hakim  ?" 

"  They  'd  call  me  that  in  Stamboul,  I  suppose,  as  I  have 
practiced  the  healing  art,"  replied  the  puzzled  Doctor. 

UI  am  Medlani,  a  priest,  come  from  Patusen  to  con 
sult  the  wisdom  of  Tuan  Hedland  in  a  private  matter," 
said  the  enigmatical  figure,  bowing  again. 

Whatever  this  mode  of  address  might  mean,  it  would 
not  be  hospitable  to  continue  the  conversation  in  the 
rain,  and,  with  a  wave  of  a  hand  towards  the  bridge, 
the  Englishman  indicated  that  he  was  to  be  followed  to 
his  house.  At  the  door  he  turned  for  a  moment  to 
inquire,  with  a  glance  at  the  mute  Chinaman, — 


344  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  Is  this  youth  your  servant  ?" 

"My  friend,"  was  the  terse  answer. 

"Ah!  —  To  your  mat,  yonder,  Oshonsee  I  —  Enter, 
then." 

The  Arab  involuntarily  stared  for  a  moment  at  the 
clothed  ape,  rising  in  their  path  and  walking  erect  be 
fore  them  into  the  room;  but  quickly  recovered  his 
composure  of  look,  and  gravely  sank  cross-legged  upon 
a  divan  of  mats  hastily  extemporized  for  him  by  his 
yet  wondering  host.  The  Chinaman  remained  stand 
ing,  though  motioned  to  a  chair,  and  then  the  Doctor 
himself  took  a  seat. 

"So  you  come  from  Patusen,"  began  Hedland, 
"  where  Pangeran  Makota — " 

If  he  had  been  puzzled  before  by  this  incongruous 
visitation,  he  was  now  thoroughly  startled  at  being  in 
terrupted  by  the  sudden  prostration  of  the  Chinese 
youth  at  his  feet,  abjectly  and  with  face  downward. 

"  Why,  what  absurdity  is  this  ?"  he  exclaimed,  draw 
ing  back  angrily. 

"  Oh,  Tuan,  do  you  not  know  me  ?"  sounded  a  voice 
not  unfamiliar  to  him,  and  pitifully  pathetic  in  its 
entreaty. 

The  amazed  naturalist  stooped  to  scrutinize  the  now 
upturned  face,  scarcely  noticed  by  him  previously,  and 
saw,  through  its  staining  of  turmeric,  an  expression 
he  could  not  mistake. 

"Amina!" 

"  Yes,  the  miserable  Amina  I"  was  the  passionate 
answer,  while  both  of  his  hands  were  tremulously 
grasped  and  pressed  to  a  young  face  streaming  with  tears. 

That  a  daughter  of  Pa  Jenna  should  appear  to  him  in 
such  a  disguise,  with  such  a  companion,  and  in  a  mood 
so  contrasting  with  her  former  high  spirit,  seemed  to 
Doctor  Hedland  the  strangest  of  improbabilities.  By 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        345 

every  tradition,  law  and  usage  of  the  country,  Moham- 
etan  or  savage,  death  was  the  penalty  of  her  act.  He 
looked  at  Medlani  for  at  least  some  significance  of  coun 
tenance  to  aid  his  conjectures ;  but  received  no  answer 
ing  sign.  The  eyes  of  the  priest  sought  the  floor  when 
not  furtively  regarding  the  ape,  and  it  was  plain  that 
he  chose  to  take  no  further  immediate  part  in  the  con 
versation. 

"My  poor  child,"  said  the  Doctor,  kindly  and  firmly, 
"you  must  arise  instantly  from  that  unbecoming  pos 
ture,  and  tell  me  why  you  have  done  this  wild,  danger 
ous  thing.  There  ;  get  up  ;  so.  Now,  what  is  the 
meaning  of  this  disguise,  and  this  mad  journey  ?  " 

The  fugitive's  hat  had  fallen  off;  and  as  she  stood 
before  her  questioner  like  some  shamefaced  boy,  for 
lornly  masquerading,  the  philosopher  was  prompted  to 
continue  in  a  different  tone  : 

" — But  I  see  that  you  already  realize  your  folly,  and 
will  do  what  I  can  to  help  you  in  repairing  it,  when  I 
shall  have  heard  what  has  tempted  you  thus  to  risk  the 
anger  of  the  Pangeran  and  your  father's  certain  con 
demnation." 

"  Tuan  will  plead  for  me  with  my  father  ;  for  that  I 
come  to  him  first,"  replied  the  girl,  in  a  low  tone.  "  He 
will  tell  Pa  Jenna  that  his  daughter  has  been  placed 
amongst  Makota's  slaves,  because  she  is  a  Dyak.  Did 
the  Pangeran  ask  me  of  my  father  to  be  his  slave  ?  " 
she  continued,  her  voice  rising,  and  a  fierce  glitter  com 
ing  into  her  large  black  eyes.  "Is  my  sister  Inda  the 
bondwoman  of  Pangeran  Budrudeen  ?  The  blood  of 
the  Illanaon  is  as  good  as  that  of  the  Sultan  ;  and  yet 
this  Malay  traitor  dared  to  make  me  toil  with  the  house 
hold  slaves  taken  by  him  in  war  ;  and,  when  I  protest 
ed,  had  me  beaten  I  " 

"  What !— the  cowardly  ruffian  !— did  he  dare  to  do 


346  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

that  ?  "  cried  Hedland,  at  once  losing  his  judicial  air  in 
a  burst  of  sympathetic  wrath. 

"I  was  beaten! — yes !"  resumed  Amina,  clenching 
her  little  hands  and  breathing  quickly, — "  beaten  until 
I  fainted,  Tuan  !  It  was  then  that  I  went  in  disguise 
to  Kuchin,  while  the  wretch  was  away  at  Bruni,  to  beg 
of  Tuan  Besar's  hakim  the  white  powder  that  is  dead 
lier  than  the  upas.  Makota  heard  of  the  journey, 
though  he  knew  not  what  it  was  for,  and  would  have 
killed  me  if  the  kind  Medlani  had  not  helped  my 
escape." 

"  I,  too,  have  heard  of  your  secret  visit  to  Doctor 
Treacher  for  the  arsenic,"*  interposed  the  naturalist, 
with  a  reproving  shake  of  a  forefinger.  "That  was 
wrong.  Why  did  you  not  fly  at  once  ;  why  not  come 
to  Leda  Tanah,  since  you  were  in  Sarawak  ?" 

"  I  feared  my  father,  Tuan  Hedland." 

"  His  wrath  will  be  great  now." 

"Not  after  Tuan  has  told  him  that  the  Malay  kris 
would  have  drank  his  daughter's  blood  if  she  had  stayed 
longer." 

The  Arab  priest  now  spoke  : 

"She  would  not  have  been  krissed,  Hakim,  but 
whipped  to  death  by  slaves !  Because  I  knew  this, 
I  forgot  that  I  was  a  priest  of  Allah,  when  Amina 
appealed  to  me,  and  remembered  only  that  I  am  a 
man.  The  Eajah  sirani  of  Sarawak  has  been  niy 
friend  since  he  first  came  to  Pulo  Kalamantan, — I 
blessed  his  expedition  against  the  Sakarrans— and  to 
him  I  would  have  taken  the  woman  had  she  not  wished 
to  be  brought  to  you." 

The  conscience  of  Doctor  Hedland  was  not  without 
reproach,  in  his  secret  thoughts,  for  his  not  having  op- 

*Tlie  incident  was  historic. 


THE  DOCTOR  HAS  A  PATIENT,  ETC.        347 

posed  Pa  Jenna's  ambition  to  see  this  hapless  young 
creature  a  sharer  in  her  sister's  princely  bestowal ;  and 
he  knew  it  was  something  like  jealous  resentment  in  his 
own  lonely  heart  that  had  been  at  the  bottom  of  his 
seeming  indifference  when  his  favorite,  Inda,  showed 
pride  in  the  idea  of  going  to  Bruni.  Pa  Jenna  could 
certainly  be  influenced  by  him  to  approve  his  daughter's 
critical  defiance  of  Makota's  wrath,  even  to  the  extent  of 
warring  against  the  treacherous  outlawed  prince  ;  and 
what  good  reason  had  he  to  maintain  a  farther  policy  of 
conciliation  towards  one  who  had  gratuitously  rejected 
his  friendship  ? 

"  The  Eajah  of  Sarawak  should  certainly  have  been 
appealed  to  in  this  case,  rather  than  I,"  he  said,  after  a 
moment's  deliberation  ;  "in  his  court  both  protection 
and  justice  would  be  assured.  However,  I  will  do  the 
best  I  can.  Retire  you,  Amina,  to  the  shade  of  that 
corner,  over  yonder,  and  renew  your  acquaintance  with 
Oshonsee.  I  hear  some  one  coming." 

It  was  Kalong,  the  Dyak  attendant,  who  gazed  in 
through  the  doorway,  with  some  natural  curiosity,  at 
the  strange  guests,  but  evidently  had  no  suspicion  of 
the  Chinese  figure's  true  identity.  When  he  had  been 
dismissed,  with  orders  to  prepare  coffee,  Amina  came 
forward  again  and,  with  a  semblance  of  her  old,  child 
like  freedom,  whispered  in  the  Doctor's  ear  : 

"Makota  has  taunted  me  about  the  learned  'antu' 
of  Tuan  Hedland.  He  told  me  he  had  lied  to  you  in  say 
ing  that  his  nakodahs  had  found  him,  he  knew  not 
where.  It  was  on  Gunong  Tubbang  they  surprised  him, 
on  the  ground  and  nearly  starved — he  was  so  young  then. 
Makota  has  been  as  false  to  you,  Tuan,  as  to  me." 

This  confirmation  of  his  inference  from  the  Orang- 
Kaya's  confession  left  no  further  question  on  that  point 
in  her  hearer's  mind. 


348  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"I  know  already,"  was  his  reply,  "that  the  Pan- 
geran  deceived  me  there.  He  shall  have  no  chance  to 
mislead  either  of  us  again,  my  poor  child  ;  from  hence 
forth  we  must  count  upon  him  as  an  open  enemy."  A 
look  of  perplexity  came  over  his  countenance  as  he 
surveyed  her,  in  her  strange  attire  :  "What  am  I  to  do 
with  you  until  your  father  returns  ?  Some  of  the 
people  are  already  back  from  work,  on  account  of  the 
rain,  and  it  will  not  do  for  them  to  see  you  on  the 
veranda  in  a  man's  dress." 

"They  would  not  know  me; — you  did  not,"  she 
answered,  quickly  and  confidently.  "lam  not  afraid. 
Kalong  was  deceived  by  the  dress  and  my  turmeric 
staining.  Let  me  sit  in  the  doorway  (I  shall  be 
taken  for  the  servant  of  your  guest)  and  watch  for  my 
father." 

"  The  hakim's  wisdom  may  tell  him  that  the  Dyaks 
are  simpler  than  children  in  such  matters,"  remarked 
the  priest,  quietly. 

"They  are  indeed  the  readiest  of  dupes  to  some 
ridiculous  impositions,"  assented  Hedland,  thinking  of 
the  mias's  head  and  Sejugah.  "  Have  your  way,  then, 
Amina." 

The  latter  seated  herself  on  the  threshold,  whence 
she  could  see  a  portion  of  the  veranda  ;  and  the  Doctor, 
turning  his  attention  to  the  Arab,  perceived  that  Med- 
lani  was  once  more  absorbed  in  contemplation  of  the 
ape  lounging  sidelong  upon  his  mat  against  the  wall. 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

A  MISSING  LINK  IS  SUPPLIED. 

WHEN,  on  the  fifth  day  of  August,  in  the  year  1844, 
fourteen  months  after  the  expedition  against  the  Sare- 
bas  pirates,  Rajah  Brooke  started  once  more  from  his 
capital,  in  warlike  array,  to  chastise  Shereef  Sahib  and 
his  hordes  of  the  Sakarran,  a  characteristic  episode  of 
the  enthusiastically  loyal  demonstration  at  Kuchin  was 
the  blessing  formally  pronounced  upon  the  Rajah,  Cap 
tain  Keppel,  H.  M.  S.  Dido,  and  the  attending  steam 
gunboat,  Phelegethon,  by  a  Mahometan  santon,  or 
roving  priest.  This  was  Medlani,  of  the  same  Arabic 
blood  with  the  wild  and  lawless  shereefs,  but  held  in 
great  reverence,  from  the  Sooloo  to  the  Java  sea,  as  a 
character  at  once  devout  and  astute.  Belonging  to 
a  privileged  order,  that,  while  qualified  to  officiate  in 
the  mosque,  had  also  the  wandering  prerogatives  of 
dervish,  hermit,  and  santon  of  the  desert,  the  priest  in 
question  chanced  to  be  with  the  Sultan's  bandhara, 
Muda  Hassim,  in  Sarawak,  when  the  great  Englishman 
arrived  there,  and  from  thenceforth  gave  to  the  latter  a 
hearty  moral  support,  as  heartily  appreciated  by  him. 

Doctor  Hedland  was  aware  of  all  this,  and,  in  realiz 
ing  that  the  same  Medlani  was  now  his  guest,  counted 
upon  finding  in  him  an  intelligence  much  more  compan 
ionable  than  his  fantastic  head-dress  and  immobile  face 
might  otherwise  have  promised.  "When  Kalong  had 
served  the  coffee,  the  naturalist  lost  no  time  in  opening 
a  conversation,  and,  as  the  stranger  had  betrayed  a 
peculiar  silent  interest  in  the  ape,  directed  it  at  once  to 
that  chief  object  of  his  own  thoughts. 
349 


350  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  I  observe,"  said  he,  "  that  while  Amina  and  I  were 
talking,  you  gave  your  attention  to  the  mias.  May  I 
ask  if  you  see  anything  remarkable  in  the  animal  ?" 

"You  call  him  '  Oshonsee '?"  was  the  questioning 
answer. 

"  Yes,  for  want  of  a  better  name." 

"  Is  it  a  Christian  word  ?" 

"Not  exactly.  When  the  mias  is  excited  he  utters 
sounds  forming  something  like  that  name." 

"  Other  miases  do  not." 

"  Why  there  you  touch  a  matter  that  has  puzzled  me 
not  a  little,"  rejoined  the  Doctor,  with  vivacity.  "The 
sounds  uttered  by  Oshonsee  are  not  the  same  as  those 
I  have  heard  from  the  wild  mias  ;  but  I  think  they  may 
be  taken  for  exaggerations  of  them.  It  is  hard  to  de 
scribe  the  cry  of  the  common  animal ;  we  can  only  say 
that  it  is  a  mixture,  or  alternation,  of  coughing  and 
pumping  sounds.  Oshonsee  gives  more  articulate  char 
acter  to  them." 

"I  notice  the  peculiarity  particularly,"  said  the 
priest,  now  speaking  pure  Malayan,  "because  it  shows 
that  your  '  Antu '  must  be  of  the  sacred  race  of  Sam 
bas." 

"My  '  Antu' !  "  echoed  the  Doctor, his  disgust  at  the 
superstitious  term  overpowering  every  other  emotion. 
"  Can  it  be  possible  for  a  man  of  your  knowledge  to  be 
lieve  in  the  'familiar-spirit '  bosh  of  the  poor  Dyaks?" 

"Allah  consults  not  the  wisdom  of  man  in  his  crea 
tions,"  returned  Medlani.  "  When  that  wisdom  grows 
proud  to  sin  against  him,  he  takes  it  away,  and  puts  in 
its  place  a  sacred  fire  that  makes  holy  its  possessor." 

The  naturalist  was  discouraged.  He  could  make 
nothing  of  this. 

"  Am  I  to  infer  that  you  are  one  of  the  possessors  of 
the  sacred  fire  ?"  he  asked,  ironically. 


A  MISSING  LINK  IS  SUPPLIED.  351 

"  Allah  leaves  me  yet  my  wordly  wisdom,  worthless 
as  it  is,"  returned  the  Arab,  with  a  faint,  momentary 
smile.  "Those  whom  he  treats  otherwise  you,  Chris 
tians,  put  into  prisons  and  bind  with  ropes ;  but  the 
Prophet's  followers  know  that  it  is  Allah  who  has  gifted 
them  with  prophetic  sight  and  unknown  speech,  and 
they  offer  them  gifts  instead  of  bondage." 

"  H'm  !  you  're  talking  of  mad  people,"  grunted  the 
enlightened  philosopher.  "  I  '11  not  dispute  that  theory 
with  you,  my  friend  :  life  is  too  short.  But  what  has 
this  to  do  with  c  Antus  '  ?" 

"  I  use  the  word  of  the  Dyaks  for  beings  with  super 
natural  powers,  Tuan  Hedland.  It  is  said  in  Sambas, 
that  such  a  creature  once  appeared  there,  many  years 
ago,  bearing  a  talisman  and  speaking  an  unknown 
tongue.  Inda  has  told  me  of  the  mias,  here  ;  that  he 
walks  erect  and  hates  the  voice  of  the  sirani.  This 
holy  man  of  Sambas  was  hairy,  though  he  wore  gar 
ments,  and  fled  with  loathing  from  the  speech  of  the 
English.  I  have  heard  the  fame  of  Oshonsee,  and 
think  that  he  may  be  of  this  holy  race." 

With  hands  thrust  deeply  into  his  pockets,  and  body 
thrown  stiffly  back  in  his  chair,  Doctor  Hedland  stared 
down  at  the  cross-legged  oracle,  in  a  bewilderment  of 
fragmentary,  half-relative  recollections  and  startled  ex 
pectancy.  The  name  of  Sambas  seemed  to  find  some  kind 
of  familiar  echo  in  his  brain,  as  thus  mentioned,  though 
he  knew  not  exactly  why  ;  and  this  characteristically 
Oriental  figment  about  a  holy  man  in  the  wilderness 
spurred  his  curiosity  like  a  newly-discovered  fact  in 
science. 

Apparently  heeding  only  his  lately  replenished  coffee- 
cup,  the  dusky-visaged  devotee  gave  no  sign  of  noticing 
the  effect  produced  by  his  words.  A  certain  occasional 
rolling  movement  of  his  eyes  suggested  a  covert  noting 


352  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

of  various  objects  around  the  room — the  rude  standing- 
desk,  the  low  table,  the  canework  chairs,  the  matted 
couch,  the  arms  and  butterfly  nets  against  the  wall,  and 
other  appointments  of  the  place — but  neither  the  quiet 
ape  nor  his  temporarily  mute  master  shared  in  the  fur 
tive  scrutiny. 

"  If  your  memory,  Medlani,  carries  the  whole  story, 
yet,  of  this  santon  of  Sambas,"  the  Doctor  said,  at  last, 
with  propitiatory  mildness,  "  I  should  be  pleased  greatly 
to  hear  it.  "We  Europeans  are  fond  of  anything  that 
illustrates  the  character  of  a  people  different  from  our 
selves.  Thus,  the  story-tellers  of  your  country  have 
great  fame  with  us  for  their  tales  of  love  and  magic, 
which  show  the  Eastern  mind  more  truly  than  graver 
history." 

Again  the  semblance  of  a  smile  flitted  over  the  dark 
countenance  of  one  too  astute  not  to  understand  this 
attempted  sophistication  of  Anglo-Saxon  curiosity. 

"  Tuan  Hedland  shall  hear  the  story  as  it  has  been 
told  to  me  by  some  of  the  old  people  of  Sambas,"  replied 
Medlani,  with  an  inclination  of  his  turbaned  head; 
"  the  power  is  Allah's  to  make  it  true  or  false  to  his 
wisdom.  In  the  time  when  a  great  war  of  the  siranis 
brought  many  of  their  ships  with  guns  to  these  seas, 
and  the  Dutch  usurpers  of  Java  trembled  for  the  hour 
when  those  of  your  nation,  Tuan,  should  drive  them 
forth,  a  prahu  came  to  Sambas  from  Batavia  with  a 
message  to  the  Dutch  settlement  on  Sambas  river. 
After  the  messenger  and  the  sailors  had  stepped  to  the 
shore,  there  sprang  up  out  of  the  prahu's  depths,  where 
coffee  and  fruit  alone  had  been  before,  a  strange  man's 
shape,  with  hairy  face  and  neck,  and  eyes  of  fire.  He 
wore  the  Dutch  dress ;  but  spoke  what  neither  Dutch, 
nor  Malay,  nor  Dyak  could  understand." 

" I  see,"  remarked  the  naturalist,  with  a  nod  ;  "he 


A  MISSING  LINK  IS  SUPPLIED.  353 

had  secreted  himself  in  the  boat's  cargo,  and  might 
well  look  and  talk  wildly  after  such  a  voyage.  Some 
deserter  from  an  English  ship,  I  '11  wager." 

"There  were  speakers  of  your  language  on  a  trading- 
ship  then  at  Sambas,  and  they  knew  not  the  tongue  he 
spoke,"  resumed  the  priest.  "  Indeed,  he  shrieked  at 
their  speech,  and  would  have  fled  from  it  if  they  had  not 
detained  him." 

"That  was  strange,"  commented  the  Doctor,  thought 
fully. 

"JSTone  had  seen  him  enter  into  the  prahu  ;  none  had 
seen  him  while  they  sailed." 

"Because  he  was  hidden  in  the  cargo,  to  steal  a 
voyage." 

"  What  am  I,  that  I  should  know,  Tuan  ?  I  tell  only 
as  I  was  told.  The  sirani  sailors  said  that  he  was  a 
man  whom  Allah  had  smitten,  and  should  be  chained  in 
a  prison-cage  ;  but  the  Malays  believed  it  was  a  santon 
— a  holy  man — that  had  come  amongst  them,  to  pro 
phesy  the  downfall  of  the  Dutch  usurpers.  They  sur 
rounded  and  held  him,  gently  ;  seeking  to  lead  him  to 
the  Sultan's  surow  ;  but,  when  near  to  the  palace,  the 
sight  of  a  Pangeran  in  red  velvet  jacket  and  carrying  an 
English  sword,  so  filled  him  with  abhorrence,  that  he 
broke  from  the  fearstricken  people,  and,  uttering  his 
strange  speech,  fled  swiftly  to  the  nearest  jungle." 

"Let  me  interrupt  you  again — why  should  the  red 
Pangeran  and  his  sword  have  been  so  abhorrent  ?" 
queried  Hedland. 

"The  hairy  santon  loved  peace,  and  hated  the  signs 
of  war,"  returned  Medlani. 

"Ah!— well,  goon." 

"  There  was  great  tumult  in  Sambas  then,  between 
the  Dutch,  who  knew  not  what  time  the  war-ships  of 
your  nation  might  come  there,  also,  and  the  Malays, 


354  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

who  were  growing  bolder  for  the  same  reason.  Pursuit 
of  the  santon  was  soon  given  up,  and  he  next  appeared 
in  a  Dyak  village  on  the  Simpang-Kira  river,  nearly 
naked,  and  footsore.  In  this  village  was  a  woman  of 
the  Panams,  taken  in  battle  from  a  wandering  party  of 
the  great  Kayan  tribe,  and  believed  to  be  an '  Antu, '  or 
familiar  forest-spirit." 

"  Now  tell  me  about  these  Panams,"  interrupted  the 
Englishman  again  ;  "  I  have  heard  much  of  them  from 
the  Malays.  You  appear  to  assume  that  such  degener 
ate  human  beings  do  really  exist." 

"I  know  but  what  I  have  heard  thousands  of  times 
from  Dyaks  coming  to  the  coast  from  the  interior  great 
mountains  of  Anga-Anga — that  the  Panams  are  crea 
tures  in  human  shape,  living  in  trees,  like  the  mias,  and 
hunted  and  eaten  by  the  Patakan  cannibal  tribe.  To 
the  Kayans,  and  some  others,  they  are  '  Antus,'  as  I 
have  said." 

"Doubtless  there  is  an  interior  Dyak  tribe  called 
Panams,"  muttered  the  Doctor,  doubtfully, "  and  they 
may  be  next-door  to  brutes.  However,  let  us  hear  more 
of  your  santon." 

"  The  Panam  'Antu'  had  not  brought  a  good  rice- 
harvest  to  the  village  yet,"  proceeded  Medlani,  un 
moved  by  either  interruption  or  criticism,  "  and  the  vil 
lagers  believed  that  the  santon  was  sent  to  correct  her 
failure.  Now  that  his  clothing  was  so  much  torn  away, 
it  could  be  seen  that  he  was  hairy,  almost,  as  a  mias, 
and  carried  upon  his  breast,  by  a  cord  about  the  neck, 
an  '  Antu's '  charm,  or  talisman.  The  old  men  of  the 
village  describe  it  as  having  looked  like  an  English  ship- 
soldier's  box  for  cartridges,  wrapped  in  a  shining  silk. 
They  never  dared  to  touch  it,  though  carrying  the  holy 
man,  as  they  deemed  him,  before  their  Orang-kaya. 
This  chieftain  and  his  followers  took  the  new  t  Antu ' 


A  MISSING  LINK  IS  SUPPLIED.  355 

forth  to  the  rice-fields  ;  and  then  returned  with  him  in 
triumph ;  assured  that  their  harvest  was  now  secure. 
It  did  not  turn  out  so,  however  ;  the  rice  was  blighted. 
In  their  rage  at  what  they  considered  the  malevolence 
of  another  evil  '  Antu,'  the  villagers  fastened  a  Dutch 
ship-chain  to  the  waists  of  the  santon  and  the  Panam 
woman ;  a  native  priest  killed  two  fowls  above  their 
heads  and  sprinkled  them  with  the  blood ;  and,  thus 
married  according  to  Dyak  rites,  the  two  poor  '  Antus  ' 
were  carried  in  great  state,  by  a  fleet  of  prahus,  up  the 
Simpang-Kira  river,  and  cast  loose  in  the  mountains 
eastward  of  Simunjon." 

Countless  stories  such  as  this,  of  good  and  bad  familiar 
spirits,  and  their  propitiation  or  casting-out  by  the 
Dyaks,  are  always  current  in  the  agricultural  villages 
of  Borneo,  and  may  be  heard  by  any  sojourner  there. 
Superstitious  to  the  last  degree,  the  aborigines  of  Pulo 
Kalamantan,  and  especially  those  of  the  "Darrat," 
or  inland,  tribes,  attribute  supernatural  qualities  to  any 
living  object  differing  materially  from  the  types  familiar 
to  them,  whether  human  or  brute.  A  white  man  visit 
ing  a  village  is  importuned  at  least  to  slay  a  fowl  with 
his  own  hands  and  sprinkle  the  blood  on  the  lintels  of 
the  doors  and  out  of  a  window,  that  health  and  good 
crops  may  be  assured  to  the  credulous  community.  If 
a  deformed,  or  imbecile  human  creature,  or  even  a  mias 
of  unusual  aspect,  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  simple  bar 
barians,  an  uAntu  "  is  at  once  recognized;  to  be  ab 
jectly  feared,  or  formally  exorcised,  according  as  public 
good,  or  evil,  follows  the  advent.  Medlani's  narrative 
was  in  the  vein  of  a  hundred  legends  familiar  to  the 
jaded  contempt  of  the  naturalist ;  yet  the  latter  had  lis 
tened  to  it — given,  of  course,  with  much  more  Oriental 
technicality  of  phrase  than  here  recorded — like  a  man 
hearing  the  most  significant  truths  of  his  own  destiny. 


356  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  Simunjon  ?"  he  repeated,  mechanically,  " — Simun- 
jon?  That  may  account  for  much — much!  But" — 
with  a  kind  of  desperate  clutch  at  anything  to  sustain 
the  proper  skepticism  of  civilization— "  I  have  heard 
that  the  human  shapes  assumed  by  '  Antus '  are  gener 
ally  without  heads." 

"They  have  pointed  heads,"  answered  the  Arab, 
quietly.  "  The  long  red  hair  and  great  beard  of  the 
santon  of  Sambas  made  his  head  seem  pointed,  and 
the  Panam  skull  is  like  an  egg." 

"  The  head  taken  by  Sejugah  was  like  that !"  solilo 
quized  the  spell-bound  Doctor. 

"I  have  said  that  Tuan  Hedland's  mias  may  be  of 
the  same  race  with  the  holy  man  of  Sambas,"  contin 
ued  Medlani,  with  a  glance  at  the  motionless — (what 
now  ? — Ape  ?) — Oshonsee.  "  This  is  my  reason  :  Three 
years  after  the  '  Antus '  were  cast  loose  in  the  moun 
tains,  they  were  heard  of  in  the  mias  region  of  the 
Sadong  and  Simunjon,  as  inhabiting  there  the  root- 
opening  of  a  great  fig  tree,  and  having  with  them  a 
younger  creature  of  their  own  kind.  None  dared  to 
disturb  OB  hunt  them  ;  for  their  chain  was  thought  to 
have  been  placed  on  their  bodies  by  Jovata,  the  Hindoo 
god  ;  and  bird-nest  hunters  of  Songi,  who  saw  them 
occasionally  from  their  boats,  believed  them  to  be  'An 
tus  '  of  the  miases.  Years  after  that,  Tuan,  the  people 
who  then  lived  in  this  very  village  of  Pa  Jenna,  discov 
ered  a  female  'Antu  '  and  a  little  one  near  the  mouth 
of  Stabad  river,  at  the  entrance  of  a  cavern  in  Gunong 
Tubbaug."— 

"The  chain  is  complete!"  broke  in  the  Doctor, 
springing  to  his  feet,  with  both  palms  at  his  throbbing 
temples.  "  I  see  it  all  now — blind  idiot  that  I  have 
been  !"  He  fairly  stamped  in  his  ecstacy  of  excite 
ment  ;  and  the  priest,  not"  knowing  how  to  understand 


A  MISSING  LINK  IS  SUPPLIED.  357 

such  an  abrupt  demonstration,  drew  back  in  some 
alarm. 

"  Tuan  is  not  offended  ?" 

"  Only  with  myself,  friend  ;  only  with  myself— that  I 
did  not  see,  before,  what  your  words  have  made  clear 
to  me,"  rejoined  the  Englishman,  hurriedly  yet,  though 
with  an  obvious  effort  to  resume  self-possession. 
"  All  my  wisdom,  Medlani,  has  been  brought  to  naught 
by  this  'Antu '  story  of  yours,  for  you  have  given  me 
the  true  species  of  the  creature  I  have  thought  to  be — 
I  scarcely  know  what!— Yet,  tell  me," — glaring  down 
upon  him  over  folded  arms — "  how  is  it  that  none  of 
the  Europeans  at  Kuchin  have  ever  heard  of  the  wild 
man  of  Sambas?" 

"  Tuan  forgets  that  the  tribes  near  the  coast  were 
continually  changing  from  one  village  to  another,  be 
fore  the  invincible  Rajah  of  Sarawak  came  to  destroy 
the  Shereefs  whose  prahus  spared  no  unprotected  place. 
Twenty  different  tribes  have  been  on  the  Simpang-Kira 
and  here,  since  the  santon  came  from  Java,  and  only 
two  or  three  old  men,  whom  no  stranger  would  see,  or 
be  likely  to  hear  of,  remember  the  'Antu'  marriage." 

"That  may  be,"  began  the  naturalist,  when  a  light 
touch  on  the  shoulder  checked  his  utterance,  and,  turn 
ing  sharply  about,  he  encountered  the  frightened  face 
of  Amina. 

uMy  father!— he  is  here!"  the  trembling  girl  had 
barely  time  to  whisper, — as  she  glided  on  farther  into 
the  room, — before  the  early-returning  Pa  Jenna  stepped 
over  the  threshold  from  the  bridge,  carrying  several 
fishes  which  he  had  taken,  while  away,  with  his  tri- 
pronged  spear. 

The  Orang-kaya  had  been  prepared  by  Kalong  to 
find  Medlani  and  a  companion  in  the  Doctor's  house. 
He  recognized  the  priest  with  a  profound  obeisance,  be- 


358  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

stowed  only  a  passing  glance  on  the  Chinese  figure, 
whose  face  was  not  towards  him,  and  then  presented 
his  glittering  present  to  the  naturalist,  who  acknowl 
edged  it  appreciatively. 

"  You  are  here,  again,  sooner  than  I  expected,  my 
good  friend,"  said  Hedland,  in  a  mood  to  accomplish  the 
task  now  incumbent  upon  him  as  quickly  as  possible  : 
"  but  not,  I  hope,  so  soon  as  you  could  have  wished  to 
return,  had  you  known  what  I  am  about  to  tell.  Your 
daughter  has  left  the  traitorous  Pangeran  Makota ; 
fled  from  him— the  coward  !— because  he  treated  her  as 
a  slave  : — yes,  Pa  Jenna,  even  degraded  the  child  of  your 
blood  with  blows  ! — And  would  have  had  her  whipped 
to  death  at  last,  had  she  not  escaped  from  his  rebel 
den  at  Patusen,  with  the  generous  Medlani,  here  !" 

This  headlong  presentment  of  the  case  surpassed  any 
possible  temporizing  diplomacy  for  exciting  in  the 
Dyak  chief  the  fierce  feelings  which  the  speaker  de 
sired  first  to  awaken.  Pa  Jenna  recoiled  as  from  an 
angry  buffet  on  the  breast,  and  with  eyes  sparkling  and 
hand  instinctively  clasping  the  hilt  of  his  Malay  kris, 
looked  furiously  from  Hedland  to  the  Arab. 

"  Tuan  has  spoken  truly,"  assented  the  latter,  rising 
to  his  feet.  "Makota,  the  Serpent,  has  done  all  this. 
He  spurns  the  blood  of  the  Dyak,  and  would  have 
Amina  only  as  his  slave." 

"My  kris  shall  find  him  if  he  were  the  Sultan  him 
self,  ' '  shouted  the  infuriated  Orang-kaya,  who,  like  all 
Illanaons,  boasted  an  antiquity  of  race  extending  back  to 
"  the  days  of  the  Hindoos,"  and  was  passionately  sensi 
tive  to  any  indignity  upon  it.  The  tempestuous  rage  of 
the  moment  made  him  unmindful  of  having  heard  that 
his  daughter  was  a  fugitive  ;  and  now,  when  the  sup 
posed  Chinese  youth  came  forward  with  an  inarticulate 
cry,  and  fell  prostrate  at  his  feet,  he  stared  blankly. 


A  MISSING  LINK  IS  SUPPLIED.  359 

"It  is  Amina,"  said  Doctor  Hedland,  himself  stoop 
ing  to  raise  her.  "This  disguise  and  the  brave 
priest's  protection,  have  enabled  her  to  come  thus 
safely  back  to  her  father  and  her  father's  friend." 

Pa  Jenna  surveyed  the  yet  shrinking  figure  from 
head  to  foot,  and  finally  extended  his  right  hand,  for 
her  to  bow  unto  and  touch  with  her  lips. 

"  She  is  disgraced  amongst  her  people,"  he  said  bit 
terly  ;  "  she  will  be  the  scorn  of  the  Malay,  until  I  bring 
Makota's  head  to  hang  in  the  place  of  Sejugah's  mias." 

"  I  will  go  with  you  and  her  to  your  house,  Orang- 
kaya,"  said  Medlani,  "  before  your  people  are  returned, 
and  you  shall  listen  for  a  time  to  what  the  poor  priest 
of  Allah  can  counsel." 

"The  thought  is  wise,"  added  the  Doctor,  quickly. 
"  There  must  be  no  folly  of  running  '  a  mok '  amongst 
the  krisses  of  the  scoundrel's  fellow-traitors  at  Patusen, 
Pa  Jenna.  You  cannot  take  Amina  with  you,  and 
Makota  will  surely  follow  her  here,  with  his  pirates,  for 
revenge,  if  not  to  recapture  her.  Medlani  will  tell  you 
that  you  must  remain  here  for  her  protection  ;  the  more 
so  that,  I,  myself,  must  go  away  to  Kuchin  to-morrow, 
and  from  there  to  Singapore." 

"Tuan  is  going  so  soon,  and  so  far?"  queried  the 
Dyak,  with  a  scowling  air  of  disappointment. 

"Yes;  I  go  to  see  Tuan  Colonel,  who  was  once 
here  ;  but  shall  return  quickly.  Remain  you  to  defend 
Amina,  if  the  Serpent  comes,  and  let  me  impose  upon 
your  friendship  the  protection  of  Oshonsee,  also,  whom, 
for  the  first  time,  I  shall  leave  behind  me." 

"Allah  wills  it  so,"  said  Medlani,  leading  the  way  to 
the  threshold. 

Pa  Jenna  realized  that  a  peculiar  honor  was  being 
shown  to  him  by  his  great  English  friend,  in  this  en 
trusting  of  the  cherished  "  Antu  "  to  his  potent  guardi- 


360  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN: 

anship,  and,  despite  his  vengeful  aspirations,  he  softened 
to  the  compliment. 

"Tuan  Hedland  has  said  already,  to-day,  that  we 
should  be  better  friends  than  ever,"  he  answered  sub 
missively  ;  "he  forgave  me  a  fault,  and  I  will  not  com 
mit  the  wrong  of  opposing  him  now."  Amina's  hand 
was  already  in  his,  and  he  led  her  forth  after  Medlani, 
without  farther  words. 

It  was  not  to  be  doubted  that  serious  events  would 
result  from  this  escapade  of  Makota's  victim.  The 
Pangeran's  jealous,  deadly  hatred  of  the  Englishmen 
of  Sarawak,  no  longer  excluding  even  the  naturalist, 
had,  unquestionably,  been  the  instigation  of  his  brutal 
mistreatment  of  the  girl.  Her  sister  was  a  consort  of 
Budrudeen,  the  stanch  friend  of  the  English  Bajah ; 
her  father  exhibited  an  uncompromising  partizanship 
on  the  same  side ;  and  to  subject  her  to  ignominy  was 
one  of  his  few  immediately  practicable  means  of  a  grati 
fying  a  madly  revengeful  spirit  against  all  of  the  for 
eigners.  To  have  Amina  not  only  escape  from  him  in 
Patusen  after  he  had  condemned  her  to  death,  but  also 
in  company  with  a  man— priest  though  the  latter  was 
called— would  stir  him  to  a  climacteric  frenzy  of  vio 
lence  from  which  any  headstrong  outrage  might  be 
expected,  at  any  time,  by  those  to  whom  Pa  Jenna's 
daughter  had  fled  for  protection.  "Her  father  must 
take  her  with  us  down  to  Kuchin,  to  his  sister  there, 
to-morrow,"  reflected  the  naturalist ;  "that  she  may  be 
under  the  immediate  care  of  Kajah  Brooke.  To  keep 
her  here,  would  be  inviting  for  us  a  murderous  piratical 
attack,  on  some  dark  night,  when  our  reclaimed  head- 
hunters  of  the  village  could  offer  about  as  much  defence 
as  so  many  sheep." 

Thus  Dr.  Hedland  dismissed  from  his  mind,  for  the 
time  being,  a  subject  naturally  secondary  therein,  even 


A  MISSING  LINK  IS  SUPPLIED.  361 

at  this  crisis,  to  the  amazing  revelation  coming  to  him, 
that  day,  in  the  last  matter  he  had  believed  to  be 
susceptible  of  farther  illumination  from  unscientific 
sources.  Between  sunrise  and  sunset,  what  had  be 
come  of  all  that  carefully  constructed  theory  of  an  ape- 
Man  developed  by  provable  degrees  from  the  Borneon 
mias  ?  Only  a  pair  of  ludicrous  legends  of  native 
superstition,  repeated  by  a  reformed  Dyak  marauder 
and  a  vagabonclish  Mahometan  priest,  had  been  requi 
site  to  shatter  it  beyond  repair — and,  more  than  that, 
to  prove  its  very  converse  true  !  Suppose  that  he  had 
communicated  to  the  learned  societies  of  his  member 
ship,  in  Europe,  the  fondly  fancied  momentous  Discov 
ery,  and  all  those  pages  of  confirmative  observations  in 
the  cumbrous  scientific  Diary  on  yonder  high  desk — 
what  pity  of  the  erudite  and  derision  of  the  vulgar 
would  now  be  his  !  Those  pages  must  be  condemned, 
and  torn  out,  as  no  better  than  a  maundering  record  of 
the  most  fatuous  of  delusions ;  and  Oshonsee  might 
steal  them  away,  if  he  chose.  The  philosopher  was 
humiliated  beyond  expression ;  not  for  worlds  would  he 
have  had  one  of  his  fellow-countrymen  to  confront  at 
the  moment ;  yet,  with  it  all,  his  heart  was  lighter  than 
before !  If  this  contradictory  accusation  could  be  un 
derstood  as  something  like  the  much-tasked  spirit's 
relief  when  a  long  suspense  is  ended  even  by  decisive 
failure,  it  was  none  the  less  a  grateful  change  at  first, 
and  Hedland  felt  surprised  at  the  tranquility  with 
which  he  was  able  to  look  upon  the  yet  reclining, 
dumbly  watchful,  Last  of  the  Sambas  Antus  ! 

Presently  he  wandered  out  across  his  little  bridge  to 
the  long  veranda,  and  to  the  near-by  turn  of  the  latter, 
where  its  whole  greatest  perspective  as  a  roadway  in 
the  air  came  fully  into  view.  The  village  was  alive 
again  with  the  return  of  its  sailors,  fishers,  bee-hunters, 


362  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  HAN. 

peasants  and  fruit-gathers  from  their  daily  dispersion 
in  the  valley  of  the  Sarawak ;  and  at  irregular  intervals 
before  the  now  open  doorways  of  the  houses  were  fam 
ily-groups,  whose  varied  semi-civilized  combinations  of 
the  Dyak  with  the  Malay  costume,  and  glint  of  brazen 
ornaments  in  ears  and  around  wrists  and  ankles,  gave 
striking  effects  of  unrelated  color  and  fitfully  twinkling 
movement  to  the  scene.  Clouds  yet  mantled  the  moun 
tain-pillared  arch  of  the  sky;  but  from  somewhere 
behind  the  hills  in  the  west  a  warm  red  glow  made  the 
palms  on  the  heights  stand  blackly  out,  like  skeleton 
pavilions  against  a  receding  fire,  and  fell  upon  the 
street  amongst  the  tree-tops  in  a  softer-hued  reflection. 
While  the  solitary  civilized  spectator  gazed,  a  momen 
tary  stir  along  the  whole  peopled  vista,  and  then,  an  as 
dramatic  stillness,  directed  his  attention  to  the  Orang- 
kaya's  mansion,  before  which  the  Arab  priest  could  be 
seen  bowing,  with  face  towards  Mecca,  in  the  attitude  of 
devotion.  Here  and  there  a  villager  also  sank  pros 
trate  ;  for  followers  of  the  Prophet  could  yet  be  found 
in  the  Dyak  community ;  and  prayers  went  up  to  Allah 
as  the  sun  went  down. 

Hedland  was  in  a  temper  to  be  touched  by  such  a 
spectacle ;  the  feeling  of  unblessedness  seemed  lifting 
lightly  from  him,  however  soon  it  might  return,  and  a 
sudden  exaltation  possessed  his  spirit,  to  make  him 
murmur,  impulsively,  with  uplifted  look  and  arms  un 
consciously  extending:  "  Sit  nomen  Dominilaudabile, 
ab  Oriente  ad  Occidentum" — Praised  be  the  Name  of 
the  Lord,  from  the  East  unto  the  "West ! 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER. 

Two  members  of  our  American  family  in  Borneo 
have  not,  perhaps,  individualized  themselves  so  promi 
nently  in  the  developing  action  of  the  story  as  a  novel- 
reader  might  have  expected  from  certain  circumstances 
of  their  first  appearance  in  it.  No  peculiar  sagacity 
was  needed  to  foresee,  that  the  merchant's  daughter  was 
destined  to  have  a  romance  with  the  young  naval 
officer ;  nothing  could  be  more  reasonably  in  accordance 
with  the  commonest  of  precedents,  than  to  anticipate 
for  a  spectacled  and  yellow-haired  New  England  kins 
woman  of  such  a  family  some  colloquial  conspicuous- 
ness,  at  least,  in  the  general  narrative.  Yet  Miss  Effing- 
ham  and  Miss  Ankeroo  have  certainly  played  the 
quietest,  most  passive  parts,  apparently,  in  the  given 
social  drama.  It  would  be  a  grievous  and  unchivalrous 
mistake,  however,  thence  to  infer,  that  the  two  charac 
ters  in  question  lacked  either  youthful  sensibility,  or 
mental  energy,  to  equal  any  of  their  numerous  literary 
prototypes  in  sentimental  demonstrativeness  and  strong- 
minded  aggression.  It  has  never  been  true  of  the  bud 
ding  womanhood  of  the  socially -refined  grade  in  Ameri 
can  life,  any  more  than  of  that  in  the  corresponding 
grade  in  England,  or  any  other  Christian  country,  that 
it  renounces  at  once  every  fine  observance  of  filial  subor 
dination  and  maidenly  reserve  at  the  first  impression  of 
a  tender  passion.  No  truer  is  it,  that  the  hereditary, 
feminine  vivacity  of  New  England  runs  to  bustling 
obtrusion  and  pert  chatter,  whether  the  occasion  is  fit- 
363 


364  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

ting,  or  not.  Forty  years  ago,  the  delicate  timidity 
of  a  well-bred  girl  under  her  earliest  experience  of 
masculine  devotion,  and  the  but  timely  forwardness  of 
a  keenly  intelligent  woman  upon  occasions  worthy  of 
her  effective  action,  or  speech,  were,  possibly,  even 
farther  removed  from  the  startling  passionate  displays 
and  insufferable  pertinacity  of  self-conceit  so  frequently 
attributed  to  their  supposed  types  in  popular  fiction. 

Abretta  was  as  much  a  child,  yet,  to  her  own  appre 
hensions,  at  the  beginning  of  the  family  life  in  the  East 
Indies,  as  the  most  protracted  spirit  of  parental  absolu 
tism  could  have  desired.  Her  filial  sentiment  being 
really  that  of  love,  she  felt  no  eagerness  for  a  lessened 
sense  of  dependence  upon  the  two  human  beings  repre 
senting  to  her  heart  all  that  was  most  lovable  and 
admirable  in  the  world  ;  and  it  even  gave  her  a  more 
luxurious  freedom  in  her  youthful  gayety  of  spirit,  to 
believe  that  the  time  had  not  come  when  the  latter  could 
be  justly  criticized  and  restricted  by  the  conventional 
criterions  of  full-blossomed  young-ladyhood.  While 
maturing  every  day  in  the  flower-like  dignity  of  a  nature 
innocently  unconscious  of  anything  that  should  make  it 
afraid,  she  had  no  affectations  of  self-sufficient  woman 
hood  yet.  Whatsoever  came  to  her  experience  was 
second-hand,  as  it  were,  from  the  trial  and  approval  of 
father  and  mother ;  to  be  enjoyed  to  the  utmost  with 
out  fear  or  calculation,  and  retained  or  resigned  as 
parental  will  and  convenience  tacitly  dictated.  The  in 
troduction  to  the  young  Englishman  at  Batavia  began 
the  awakening  of  a  new  element  in  her  life  ;  but  she 
did  not  know  it.  The  ensuing  perilously  informal 
association  in  the  primitive  Sarawak  home,  led  both  of 
the  youthful  souls  at  least  within  the  portal  of  a  domain 
from  whence  not  even  the  most  dependent  of  human 
natures  can  ever  return  wholly  to  consanguine  depend- 


MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER.  365 

ence  again ;  but  the  fresh-hearted  girl  never  dreamed 
of  her  gain  and  loss  until,  first,  the  coming  back  of 
the  wounded  youth  from  Bruni,  and  then  his  con 
strained  farewell,  made  her  openly  unhappy.  Now, 
indeed,  she  dreamed — for,  so  far,  it  was  no  more 
definite  than  dreaming, — that  something  she  had  not 
even  recognized  while  it  was  with  her,  was  at  once  hers 
and  refused  to  her ;  and  that  what  before  was  all- 
sufficient  to  her  nature,  now  only  vexed  the  dreary 
vacancy  it  could  not  fill.  Abretta  was  openly  unhappy, 
because  yet  too  childlike  in  her  simplicity  of  character 
to  think  of  practicing  concealment  in  anything ;  but 
she  was  silently  so :  speaking  to  no  one  of  the  first 
heartsickness  of  her  life ;  nor  trying  to  understand  it 
all  herself;  half-ashamed,  half-fearful  of  it  ;  and 
secretly  miserable  with  self-reproach  that  she  dared 
not  cry  for  a  while  on  her  mother's  bosom. 

Neither  the  uncertainties  nor  the  humility  of  imma 
turity  repressed  Miss  Ankeroo  from  vindicating  her 
curious  and  active  mind  by  such  vigorous  enlistment  of 
it  in  all  the  living  interests  of  her  immediate  situation, 
as  might  have  been  expected  of  her  in  a  civilized  land. 
In  fact  she  took  a  most  efficient  part,  as  has  been  inti 
mated,  in  the  organization  of  the  transplanted  house 
hold,  was  alive  equally  to  the  private  phases  of  domestic 
life  around  her,  and  the  shocking  heresy  of  Doctor 
Hedland's  theories,  and  toiled  indefatigably  in  her  own 
missionary  adventure.  But  in  this  latter  undertaking 
the  good  soul  presently  found  conviction  that  she  could 
not  reap  either  the  comprehensive  success  or  the  intel 
lectual  satisfaction  upon  which  she  had  too  sanguinely 
calculated.  While  her  school  was  a  novelty,  the  native 
population  could  be  drawn  to  it,  in  any  desired  num 
bers,  for  primary  acquisition  of  both  secular  and  spirit 
ual  enlightenment.  When,  however,  this  first  charm 


366  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

began  to  pall,  her  native  scholars  fell  away,  except  as 
they  were  virtually  bribed  to  loyalty  by  frequent 
material  benefactions ;  and  then  the  plump,  not  un 
womanly  little  woman  from  New  England,  began  to 
realize  how  impossible  it  was  for  a  missionary  of  her 
sexto  hold  such  erratic  sheep  of  the  wilderness  in  any 
permanent  fold.  A  lady  could  not  go  out  to  the  moun 
tains  after  them,  as  they  strayed,  and  preach  them 
back  again ;  nor  could  she  wield  anything  of  a  man's 
coercive  influence  in  a  land  permeated  with  the  Ma 
hometan  idea  of  woman's  mental  insignficance.  To 
sum  it  all  up  in  a  sentence  :  Miss  Ankeroo  found  that 
only  a  man  could  have  any  hope  of  succeeding  ade 
quately  in  the  great  task  she  had  essayed.  An  appeal 
to  the  Kajah's  friendly  offices  might  have  insured  tem 
porary  help,  but  her  pride  would  not  allow  her  to  make 
it ;  so  her  sense  of  failure  was  kept  a  secret,  and  its 
burdensomeness  accounted  for  a  simultaneous  decline  of 
her  usual  self-assertion  in  things  general. 

"  You  and  Abretta  are  both  so  quiet  in  these  days," 
said  Mrs.  Effingham  to  Miss  Ankeroo,  in  the  course  of 
a  conversation  starting  from  some  ordinary  topic,  in  the 
latter's  room,  "that  I  scarcely  know  whether  to  think 
that  you  are  offended  with  each  other,  or  have  a  com 
mon  grievance  against  Richard  and  myself." 

"Then  set  your  mind  at  rest,  Cousin  Julia,"  re 
sponded  the  spectacled  one,  looking  up  from  her  sewing 
with  a  laugh  ;  "  for  if  'Bretta  and  I  ever  take  to  '  nag 
ging  '  each  other,  or  feel  ourselves  greatly  injured  by 
Cousin  Richard  and  yourself,  you  will  not  find  me,  at 
any  rate,  a  silent  martyr." 

"  You  certainly  are  much  less  lively  than  you  used  to 
be,"  Mrs.  Effingham  continued,  in  a  slightly  complain 
ing  tone  :  "  and  as  for  Abretta,  she  is  scarcely  any 
company  for  me  at  all,  any  more." 


MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER.  367 

"We  are  both  about  ready  to  leave  this  dead-and- 
alive  place,  I  fancy,"  said  Miss  Ankeroo,  acrimoni 
ously.  "  Enough  is  as  good  as  a  feast,  and  we  have*  all 
had  enough  of  Kuchin,  I  should  say.  Can  you  expect 
a  young  girl  to  be  satisfied  forever  without  any  society 
of  her  own  years,  or  anything  to  break  the  awful  mo 
notony  of  hills,  and  water,  and  palms,  and  stupid  yellow 
heathen  ?  For  my  own  part,  I  'm  sick  of  it  all.  Chris 
tians  were  never  intended  to  vegetate  in  this  life-wasting 
style." 

' '  We  shall  be  going,  now,  soon.  I  did  not  suppose 
that  you  were  so  impatient,  Cousin  Sadie — what  is  to 
become  of  your  mission-school  ?" 

"The  Rajah  expects  a  Scotch  missionary  and  his 
wife  here,  some  day.  I  can  give  my  school  a  vacation 
until  then,  without  much  serious  detriment  to  the  edu 
cational  interests  of  Borneo." 

Mrs.  Effingham,  who  was  standing,  preparatory  to 
departure  for  another  room,  looked  down  in  some  sur 
prise  at  her  cousin's  momentarily  enigmatical  counte 
nance. 

"  Then  you  are  losing  faith  ?"  she  said. 

"  I  undertook  a  man's  work,  and  a  man  will  have  to 
finish  it :  that 's  the  plain  truth  !"  was  the  half-defiant 
answer.  "  Perhaps  it  is  true,  after  all,  that  women  are 
but  poor  creatures  when  the  lord-and-master  's  left  out. 
I  shall  never  think  so  much  of  myself  again,  Cousin 
Julia." 

"You'll  never  be  anything  but  the  most  helpful  of 
creatures  to  your  sister-women,  at  any  rate,  responded 
the  older  lady,  with  feeling.  "  I  can't  say,  either,  that 
I  am  sorry  to  find  you  not  so  much  in  love  with  this 
kind  of  life  that  it  will  pain  you  greatly  to  leave  it. 
Eichard  and  I  both  think,  now,  that  Abretta  should 
have  an  early  change  of  scene.  That  was  our  principal 


368  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

reason  for  accepting  Dr.  Hedland's  invitation,  when  he 
stopped  here  yesterday,  to  go  and  see  him  in  his  village, 
after  his  return  from  Singapore.  It  will  be  a  diversion, 
and  help  to  bridge  over  the  time  until  the  vessel  is  ready 
to  take  us  home.  Cousin  Sadie,  I  am  going  now  to 
talk  seriously  with  Abretta  in  her  own  room.  Has  she 
told  you  anything  about  herself,  that  might  prepare  you 
to  judge  what  would  be  my  wisest  way  of  seeking  her 
confidence  ?" 

The  discouraged  little  missionary  clasped  her  hands 
upon  the  needlework  on  her  lap,  and  upturned  her  spec 
tacles  to  the  other's  inquiring  face  with  business-like 
directness  of  look. 

"  'Bretta,"  she  began,  "  does  not  know  what  ails  her 
self—the  poor,  innocent  child ;  but  you  and  I  know 
what  it  is,  Cousin  Julia,  perfectly  well.  If  you  and 
Cousin  Richard  did  not  want  this  very  thing  to  come 
about,  I  don't  see  why  in  the  world  you  allowed  the 
two  young  creatures  to  have  so  much  of  each  other's 
society.  Children  can't  be  children  forever.  I  could 
read  in  the  handsome  boy's  face,  when  he  found  us  all 
so  equal  in  polite  regret  at  his  last  leave-taking,  that  he 
thought  himself  cruelly  misused,  and  'Bretta  has 
moped  like  a  sick  bird  ever  since.  The  girl  talks  no 
more  to  me  than  to  you  about  it ;  but  she  hasn't  the 
art  to  hide  her  feelings  from  anybody,  even  if  she  thor 
oughly  understood  them,  and  you  musn't  try  to  make 
me  believe  that  you  are  in  doubt  about  what  they  are." 

"I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  have  no  doubt  on  that 
point,"  said  Mrs.  Emngham,  gravely. 

"  Then  if  you  are  going  to  talk  to  Abretta  on  the  sub 
ject,  I  would  advise  you  to  show  her  at  once  that  you 
know  all  about  her  trouble,  and  encourage  her  to  think 
that  she  has  your  sympathy.  I  know  enough  of  girls 
like  her  to  feel  sure,  that,  until  she  has  spoken  freely  to 


MOTHER  AND  DAU'GHTER.  369 

somebody,  her  heart  will  be  the  heavier  from  failing  to 
comprehend,  really,  what  it  is  that  so  affects  her  at  the 
mere  going  away  of  a  very  pleasant  traveling-acquaint 
ance.  It  is  better  that  she  should  learn  to  understand 
herself,  in  this  particular,  through  confidence  with  you, 
than  by  the  longer  process  of  self-finding-out  and  a 
probable  wish  to  conceal  it  then. 

"  For  my  own  part,"  continued  Cousin  Sadie,  with  a 
vexed,  impatient  movement  of  her  head,  "I  can't  see 
what  sense  there  has  been,  at  all,  in  such  dealing  at 
last  with  the  poor  young  people.  Why  couldn't  the 
young  man,  after  seeming  like  one  6T  the  family,  have 
been  allowed  to  say  '  good-bye,'  without  all  of  us  march 
ing  with  him  to  the  veranda,  and  shaking  hands  solemn 
ly  in  line,  as  though  to  say  : '  we  're  all  extremely  sorry  ; 
but,  really,  this  must  be  the  very  last  of  it! '  Oh,  he 
understood  it  all ;  and  she  imperfectly  ;  and  you,  and  I, 
and  all  of  us,  perfectly  well !" 

"There  was  no  disguise  of  the  intention,"  assented 
Mrs.  Efiingham,  showing  little  disposition  to  amplify 
the  subject  farther.  "  It  had  been  dictated  by  an  au 
thority  not  to  be  disputed." 

"  Some  of  Cousin  Eichard's  dilatory  fatherly  prudence, 
I  suppose."  intimated  Miss  Ankeroo. 

"I  believe  that  you  have  advised  me  wisely,"  re 
sumed  Mrs.  Effingham,  leaving  the  intimation  unan 
swered,  "and  I  shall  try  to  persuade  Abretta,  that, 
whatever  her  feelings  may  be,  she  can  not  find  a  more 
sympathetic  confidant  of  them  than  her  mother." 

From  the  apartment  of  her  sage  counsellor,  the  lady 
passed  through  several  intervening  rooms  to  the  one 
now  used  as  the  favorite  retreat  of  her  daughter.  Since 
occasional  absolute  solitude  had  become  an  instinctive 
necessity  for  Abretta,  she  passed  many  hours  daily  in 
this  remote  little  chamber,  supposably  in  drawing,  or 


370  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

painting,  or  perhaps  reading ;  and  her  mother  now 
found  her  absorbed  in  the  task  of  water-coloring  a 
stormy  sky  in  a  landscape  sketch. 

"What  a  gloomy  scene  you  are  making  of  that,  my 
dear,"  was  the  maternal  introduction,  as  the  speaker, 
whose  entry  had  been  noted  by  a  brief,  undisturbed 
glance,  bent  over  the  stooping  shoulders  of  the  young 
artist. 

"Oh,  yes;  it  is  a  failure,  I  know,"  said  the  girl, 
drawing  back  from  the  sheet,  with  an  air  of  tired  dis- 
heartenment. 

"I  didn't  mean  that,"  observed  her  mother,  gently  ; 
"  those  clouds  are  admirably  done,  I  should  think  ;  but 
the  subject  is  so  uncheerful." 

"It  is  so  stupid  to  have  nothing  but  sunshine  in 
everything !"  Abretta  said,  keeping  her  eyes  upon  the 
sketch. 

"  When  we  were  at  home,  in  this  season  of  the  year, 
you  often  wished  that  you  could  live  in  a  country  where 
there  were  no  storms." 

"Well,  I  am  punished  for  that  now,  Mamma,"  Ab 
retta  murmured,  absently. 

"Has  it  been  such  a  punishment  for  you,  then,  my 
dear,  to  live  for  awhile  in  this  sunny  part  of  the  world?" 
asked  Mrs.  Effingham,  drawing  a  chair  to  the  side  of 
her  daughter's,  and  meeting  the  girl's  eyes  in  thus 
coming  nearer  to  her. 

"  But  now  the  weather  even  here  is  often  so  dreary," 
was  the  discontented,  half-mechanical  rejoinder,  with 
look  averted  again.  "Unpleasant  days  seem  so  much 
longer  away  from  home." 

"  I  suppose  I  should  not  blame  you  for  homesickness, 
when  I  find  even  Cousin  Sadie  complaining  of  it." 

"  Oh,  how  soon  shall  we  go  ?"  exclaimed  Abretta, 
turning  quickly  to  her  mother,  with  a  feverish  eagerness 


THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN.  371 

of  expression  suddenly  possessing  her  whole  sensitive 
young  face.  "  Do  persuade  Papa  to  hurry  !  I  sometimes 
feel  as  though  I  could  fly,  when  I  think  that  we  must 
stay  weeks  here,  yet  I" 

"My  child,  how  changed  you  are!"  ejaculated  the 
mother,  impulsively  reaching  an  arm  about  the  waist  of 
the  abrupt  young  suppliant. 

"  It  is  so  dull  here  !"  went  on  the  latter,  in  a  strange, 
tremulous  kind  of  excitement :  "  everything  the  same — 
the  same — day  after  day  and  day  after  day  !  I  am  so — 
so—" 

Without  finishing  the  hurried  sentence,  or  even  catch 
ing  her  mother's  startled  look,  the  girl  sank  into  the 
arms  where  all  her  lesser  troubles  had  found  loving 
refuge,  and  burst  into  an  agony  of  sobs  and  tears. 

Some  alarm  was  in  the  gaze  of  yearning  motherly 
solicitude  downcast  to  the  beautiful  head,  so  seeking  the 
tenderest  support  of  maidenly  weakness.  There  is  a 
certain  pained  unrest,  almost  a  shocked  misgiving,  for 
the  heart  of  a  mother,  at  even  the  most  delicately  in 
effable  first  warning,  that  yesterday's  perfect  assimula- 
tive  oneness  of  the  whole  child-heart  with  it,  is  subtly 
ended,  and  forever.  In  this  culminating  unspoken 
confession  from  her  weeping  daughter,  that  a  not  yet 
self-conscious  womanhood's  individuality  of  moral  being 
had  so  far  superseded  childhood's  implicit  dependence, 
as  to  make  momentarily  instinctive  recurrence  to  the 
latter  a  torture  of  despairing  tears,  Mrs.  Efnngham  saw 
that  she  had  not  before  half  realized  how  much  the  pre 
viously  unexercised  traits  of  Abretta's  inner  nature  were 
like  her  own.  Here  were  the  first  wild,  unguided  steps 
of  an  unwittingly  freed  young  human  soul  in  a  separate 
destiny;  and  the  mother,  helpless  to  recall,  or  absolutely 
direct,  could  no  more  than  plead  to  be  not  put  off 
utterly,  and  tremble  for  the  untried  womanhood's 


372  MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER. 

hereditary  peril  of  mistake  and  sorrow  in  woman's  in 
evitable  lot. 

Moments  passed  silently  while  maternal  love  and 
filial  abandonment  thus  made  a  pathetic  group,  in  the 
little  room  hung  round  with  the  varied  fancies  of  youth 
ful  art,  and  looking  out,  through  vine-arched  windows, 
upon  the  deathless  desolation  of  a  soulless  wilderness. 
Girlish  shame  followed  the  short  tempest  of  girlish 
passion,  and  when  Abretta  had  regained  control  of  her 
self  sufficiently  to  sit  erect  again,  the  attempt  to  laugh 
through  the  lingering  tears  at  her  own  nervousness, 
was  pitifully  deprecatory  of  even  a  mother's  indulgent 
eye. 

"Now,  my  precious  child,  you  will  be  your  old  self 
once  more — at  least  with  me,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham, 
her  own  cheecks  showing  tearful  traces.  "This  has 
been  good  for  both  of  us  ;  for  you  know  now — do  you 
not  ? — that  your  mother  understands  and  sympathizes 
with  you  in  the  first  unhappiness  of  your  life.  Do  not 
fear  that  I  shall  be  impatient  at  what  you  feel,  or  make 
it  a  matter  of  reproach  to  you ;  for  I  know  too  well 
what  an  nndisciplined  heart  can  suffer  from  the  fateful 
ordering  it  feels  no  right  to  question  and  has  no  thought 
to  resist." 

"Dearest  Mamma,"  returned  Abretta,  with  a  poor 
assumption  of  reviving  gayety,  "I  am  only  shame 
fully,  ungratefully  homesick — and  nervous ;  that  is  all. 
I  scarcely  know  what  to  say  for  myself— giving  way  so 
childishly  ;  but  you  must  not  think  me  such  a  baby  as 
to  be  really  unhappy  because  Papa  does  not  start  with 
us  for  New  York  the  very  moment  he  sees  that  I  have 
'the  blues.'" 

"You  are  not  honest  with  me  yet,  Abretta.  I  ask 
no  unwilling  confession  from  you,  but  cannot  leave  you 
to  suppose  that  I  am  ignorant  of  the  real  cause  of  your 


MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER.  373 

recent  dejection.  A  certain  dear  young  friend  has  been 
lost  to  your  society  here,  my  poor  girl — 

Abretta  involuntarily  shrank  from  her  mother  with 
paling  cheeks,  and  the  look  of  a  momentary  fearful 
impulse  to  fly,  in  her  dilating  black  eyes. 

"You  have  no  right  to  think  that,  Mamma  !  I  have 
never  " — 

"No,  you  have  never  thought,  or  said,  or  done  an 
unmaidenly  thing,  my  dear ;  of  that  I  need  no  assur 
ance.  "YVe  have  all  lost,  then,  the  society  and  pleasant 
attentions  of  a  young  man  who  had  been  so  much  like 
one  of  ourselves,  that  we  may  naturally  feel  grieved  at 
the  uncertainty  of  ever  meeting  him  again.  The  ex 
perience  is  not  unfrequent  even  in  everyday  home-life, 
and  must  be  expected  often  in  protracted  traveling. 
Peculiar  circumstances  made  us  more  familiar  with  Mr. 
Belmore  than  if  his  uncle  had  not  been  known  to  my 
father's  family,  and  his  amiable  qualities  were  well 
calculated  to  make  us  take  an  unusually  warm  interest 
in  him.  As  we  all  felt  inexpressively  shocked  at  hear 
ing  that  he  had  been  wounded  at  Bruni,  so  it  was  and 
is  a  real  bereavement  for  us  to  have  him  at  last 
obliged  to  bid  us  farewell ;  and  you,  having  practically 
nothing  to  divert  your  mind,  may  naturally  feel  and 
show  the  keenest  immediate  sense  of  trying  deprivation. ' ' 

"I  thought  that  you— at  least,  I  thought  Papa— I 
mean  that  it  seemed  to  me  that  all  of  us  were — were 
rather  c-o-l-d  to  him — at  last,"  murmured  the  girl, 
falteringly  ;  a  deep  flush  rising  on  her  face. 

"  If  that  was  your  impression,  my  dear,  you  will  not 
be  surprised  to  hear  that  it  was  his,  too.  After  his 
good-bye  and  departure,  that  night,  he  sent  a  messenger 
back  from  'The  Grove,'  with  a  note  for  you.  Berner 
handed  it  to  me,  and  I  opened  it,  and  saw  that  Mr. 
Belmore  complained  extravagantly  at  having  been 


374  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

allowed  no  opportunity  to  say  a  single  parting  word  to 
you  by  yourself,  and  begged,  in  return,  a  single  line  to 
say  that  you  would  not  forget  him.  Under  this  request 
I  wrote,  myself,  with  my  initials,  "  Best  not,"  and  sent 
back  the  note  by  the  same  messenger." 

A  hand  that  had  been  resting  in  her  mother's  clasp, 
was  slowly  withdrawn  by  Abretta  during  .this  avowal, 
and  the  luxuriantly-tressed,  young  head  sank  eloquently 
down  upon  the  white-sleeved  arm  on  the  drawing-table. 

"Yes,  it  is  true,  my  daughter,"  Mrs.  Effingham  went 
on,  in  a  low,  steady  voice,  "  that  I  felt  justified  in  re 
sorting  to  such  final  means  of  assuring  this  imprudent 
young  man,  that  Miss  Effingham  could  not  be  addressed 
by  him  under  any  exceptional  form  that  would  warrant 
the  supposition  of  more  than  a  passing,  formal  acquaint 
ance." 

"Well,  it  is  over,  Mamma,"  came  wearily  from  the 
hidden  face. 

"  But  I  have  something  more  to  tell  you,  Abretta. 
Mr.  Belmore  may  have  believed  at  first  that  he  was 
treated  with  unkind  suspicion,  and  that  your  mother 
was  disdainful  of  him.  I  am  confident,  however,  that 
his  uncle  did  not  allow  him  to  go  back  to  his  ship,  with 
out  explaining  that  he  had,  himself,  requested  me  to 
encourage  no  hope  of  a  further  association  with  us." 

The  daughter's  head  was  raised  high  enough  by  this 
time,  and  a  pair  of  sparkling  eyes  looked  the  indigna 
tion  of  youthful  pride  affronted. 

"  Did  Colonel  Daryl  presume  to  insult  you — to  insult 
all  of  us — by  such  a  request  V" 

"Could  it  be  construed  exactly  as  an  insult,  my 
daughter,  for  this  gentleman  to  assume,  that  you  could 
not  supposably  dream  of  reciprocating  the  particular 
sentiment  that  he  believed  his  nephew  to  be  capable  of 
cherishing  for  you ;  and  to  ask  of  me,  upon  this  assump- 


MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER.  375 

tion,  my  best  efforts,  as  a  real  friend,  to  save  the  uncal- 
culating  young  man  from  the  misery  of  false  hopes  ?" 

"I  think  it  was  insolently  presumptuous  for  him  to 
concern  himself,  at  all,  with  an  assumption  so  wholly 
gratuitous  !"  exclaimed  Miss  Effingham,  every  trace  of 
her  recent  dispiritedness  gone,  and  her  whole  attitude 
contemptuously  resentful.  "What  have  I  ever  done, 
or  said,  that  Colonel  Daryl  should  trouble  himself  in 
any  manner  about  me  ?" 

Mrs.  Effingham  paused  reflectively  before  responding 
to  this.  At  last  she  said,  as  though  half  communing 
with  herself : 

"It  is  so  difficult  for  me  to  show  you  why  Colonel 
Daryl  might  have  thought  himself  to  possess,  in  a 
measure,  some  exceptional  warrant  for  acting  as  he  did, 
without  first  telling  you  something  of  him  unknown  to 
you  before,  that  I  shall  no  longer  leave  you  in  ignorance 
of  a  fact  I  had  hoped  it  might  not  be  necessary  for  you 
to  know  until  you  were  older.  This  gentleman  was 
your  Aunt  Caroline's  husband." 

"Mamma!  what  are  you  saying? — Can  it  be  pos 
sible  ?" 

"It  is  the  truth.  You  have  heard  that  he  greatly 
admired  my  sister ;  and  imagined,  perhaps,  that  there 
was  some  little  romance  in  the  matter.  The  reality 
was,  that  he  and  your  Aunt  Caroline  entered  into  a  rash 
clandestine  marriage  while  your  Aunt  was  on  a  visit  to 
Ada  Yon  Gilder  in  New  York,  and  that  they  were  in 
stantly  thereafter  separated  by  our  mother,  who  carried 
Caroline  back  to  Dornton  Manor.  Colonel  Daryl,  who 
was  then  a  young  lieutenant  and  poor,  (as  his  nephew 
now  is,)  made  but  one  effort  to  regain  his  wife.  He 
came  manfully  to  Dornton  Manor,  confessed  frankly  to 
our  incensed  mother  that  he  had  deserved  her  bitterest 
censure,  and  professed  himself  willing  to  abide  abso- 


376  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

lately  by  Caroline's  final  decision  in  the  matter.  The 
end  was,  that  he  retired  from  a  painful  interview,  with 
the  despair  of  a  peremptorily  discarded  husband  of  an 
hour.  Soon  afterwards  he  returned  to  England,  and 
your  Aunt  died.  So,  Colonel  Daryl  has  some  reason, 
you  see,  my  dear,  for  assuming  rather  more  of  our  fam 
ily  possibilities  of  disappointment  to  one  of  his  blood, 
than  could  be  excused  in  another  man." 

Somewhat  mechanically  as  the  story  was  rehearsed 
by  her  mother,  Abretta  heard  it  with  lively  alternations 
of  amazement,  sympathy  and  vague  regret ;  her  intent 
face  betraying  each  emotion  as  it  followed  the  other. 

u  Thank  you  for  telling  me  this,  Mamma.  Now  I 
can  understand  several  things  which  puzzled  me  before. 
Was  Colonel  Daryl  much  like  Mr.  Belmore,  in  his 
youth?"  The  question  was  asked  rather  timidly. 

"  I  had  never  seen  him  before  we  met  in  this  house, 
though  I  was  at  Dornton  Manor  when  he  came  there  to 
plead  his  cause.  Our  Mother  had  summoned  me,  from 
my  husband's  home  in  the  city,  to  help  her  in  persuad 
ing  my  very  unhappy  sister  to  what  she  deemed  '  rea 
son.'  I  recognized  the  name  of  Daryl  when  Mr.  Bel- 
more  mentioned  it  in  the  family -history  he  gave  us  at 
Singapore.  When  the  Colonel  came  here,  that  first 
evening,  with  the  Kajah,  he  mistook  me,  at  our  in 
troduction,  for  your  poor  Aunt  Caroline  ;  and  I  knew 
him,  only  too  well,  for  the  man  who  had  received  in 
my  early  home  what  my  conscience  has  always  told  me 
was  an  injustice,  as  cruel  as  it  is  irreparable." 

"  That  is  the  reason  why  you  have  treated  him  so — 
so  differently  from  a  stranger,  Mamma." 

"  You  have  noticed  that,  Abretta  ?" 

"  It  seemed  to  me  so." 

"  Your  Aunt  Caroline  died  broken-hearted  for  him. 
Our  mother  treated  him  like  an  unprincipled,  fortune- 


MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER.  377 

hunting  foreign  adventurer,  who  had  taken  audacious 
advantage  of  an  inexperienced  girl's  generous  heart ; 
when  he  was  surely  guilty  of  nothing  more  calculating 
than  a  passionate  lover's  headstrong  folly.  I  was  any 
thing  but  guiltless,  myself,  of  believing  the  very  worst 
of  him,  and  took  a  part  that  I  shall  regret  to  my  dying 
day !  Then,  when  he  met  us  here,  and  I  realized  that 
his  whole  life  had  been  ruined  by  that  miserable  tragedy 
of  twenty  years  ago,  it  was  my  irresistible,  pitying — I 
may  say  even  remorseful — impulse,  as  a  Dornton,  to 
offer  what  poor  atonement  I  could  for  the  great  wrong 
he  had  endured." 

uYes;  I  can  understand  it  now,"  said  Abretta, 
looking  down.  "  Does  Mr.  Belmore  know  all  this  ?" 

' '  His  Uncle  told  him  only  so  much  as  you  knew  your 
self,  while  they  were  coming  here  together.  Perhaps 
he  knows  more  now." 

Mrs.  Effingham  studied  her  daughter  closely  while  the 
latter  made  capricious  marks  with  a  drawing-pencil 
upon  a  sheet  of  Bristol  board  on  the  table.  Counte 
nance  and  attitude  indicated  growing  listlessness,  or 
abstraction,  or  both  ;  or  perhaps  the  suggestion  was  of 
some  unspoken  private  feeling  using  these  appearances 
to  conceal  itself.  Once  more  the  mother  placed  an  arm 
around  the  girl's  waist. 

"There  shall  be  perfect  confidence  between  us  from 
this  time  forth,  my  darling — shall  there  not  ?  Trusting 
in  your  intelligence,  no  less  than  in  your  affection,  I 
have  talked  to  you  as  though  we  were  equals  in  years, 
and  withhold  nothing  that  could  help  you  to  the  best 
and  most  becoming  government  of  your  own  feelings. 
We  must  bear  in  mind,  Abretta,  for  the  sake  of  our 
proper  pride,  that,  under  a  specious  appearance  of  con 
siderately  anticipating  for  your  father  and  myself  a 
painful  act  of  parental  duty,  Colonel  Daryl  has  really 


378  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

imposed  upon  us  his  own  dictatorial  will.  He  does  not 
forgive  my  poor  dead  mother  ;  I  am  to  him  Mrs.  Dorn- 
ton's  representative  in  this  later  life,  and  you  are  my 
daughter.  He  will  give  us  no  chance  to  say,  finally, 
whether  he  and  his  nephew  shall  remain  permanently 
our  friends  or  not,  but,  under  the  thin  guise  of  a  chival 
rous  humility,  dictates  to  us  a  helpless  obedience  to  his 
most  despotic  pride !  Do  you  not  see  the  subtlety  of 
such  a  revenge,  my  dear  ?" 

"  It  has  been  an  unspeakable  humiliation  for  us  ever 
to  have  known  these  English  people  again !"  exclaimed 
Abretta,  her  grand  eyes  rekindling,  and  this  time  with 
a  deeper  fire,  of  steadier  meaning,  than  before.  "Aunt 
Caroline's  husband  had  a  harsh  injury  to  remember,  it 
is  true — and  has  bravely  chosen  to  avenge  it  upon  a 
woman — upon  you,  Mamma,  who  have  stooped  to  en 
treat  him  so  gently  !  And  because  I  am  your  daughter 
he  subjects  me  to  the  unmanly  indignity  of  an  imputa 
tion  of  sentiments  which  were  necessary  to  be  assumed 
for  the  imposition  of  his  arrogant  authority  upon  you  ! 
Mamma,  is  there  no  such  being  in  the  world  as  an  Eng 
lish  gentleman  ?" 

"My  daughter!  my  daughter  I  Colonel  Daryl  had  a 
moral  right  to  do  all  that  he  has  done.  Reparation 
was  his  due,  and  when  I  tacitly  confessed  the  debt, 
even  as  though  I  had  been  a  principal  debtor  myself,  he 
simply  chose  the  form  of  payment  most  compensatory 
to  himself.  I  do  not,  I  cannot  complain  ;  it  is  but  an 
inadequate  retribution  upon  me  for  the  injustice  of  my 
youth  ;  but  for  you,  dear  child — your  looks  and  manner 
lately  have  made  me  wretched  with  a  fear  that  you,  too, 
must  suffer." 

"Dearest  mamma!"  cried  the  girl,  throwing  her 
arms  passionately  about  her  mother's  neck,  and  kissing 
the  tremulous,  kind  lips,  "you  make  me  heartily 


MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTER.  379 

ashamed  of  myself  for  having  caused  you  that  anxiety. 
Only  you  and  Papa  have  ever  had  anything  really  to  do 
with  my  happiness.  But  I  am  homesick  in  this  de 
pressing  Borneo.  Let  me  be  babyish  in  this,  for  I  can't 
help  it." 

"You  shall  be  indulged,  then,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham, 
with  an  attempt  to  smile  a  full  credence  of  the  plea  ; 
"only,  my  dear  Abretta,  it  would  reassure  me  more  if 
you  would  not  stay  so  much  by  yourself,  away  in  the 
back  of  the  house  here,  during  the  short  time  we  have 
yet  to  remain  in  Kuchin.  After  this  open  talk  we  have 
had  together,  you  surely  will  not  want  to  run  away 
from  me  ?" 

Thus  mother  and  daughter  were  one  again  as  com 
pletely  as  it  would  be  possible  for  them  thenceforth,  in 
this  life,  to  be  ;  yet  in  such  unity  the  perfect  earlier  re 
lation  had  been  insensibly  modified  to  something  of  a 
more  Sisterly  type.  Implicit  confidence  ?  Yes  !  But 
if  in  the  maternal  mind  there  was  a  discretionary  war 
rant  of  nature  for  keeping  back  from  too  immature 
years  at  least  one  vivid  recollection  essential  to  the 
motherly  confession,  where  was  the  corresponding  pre 
cedent  in  childhood's  instinctive  unreserve  for  Abretta's 
silence  as  to  a  certain  missing  ribbon  that  had  once 
bound  her  raven  hair  ? 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

IT  IS  HARD  FOR  A  MAN  WHOLLY  TO  DISAPPEAR. 

"THE  Scientific  Party  has  arrived,  you  say?"  re 
marked  Mr.  Felix  Dodge  to  the  office-clerk  of  the 
United  Straits  Hotel,  at  Singapore,  after  that  portly, 
mutton-chop-whiskered,  English  subordinate — Hodge 
by  name — had  concluded  a  summary  of  the  events  of 
the  house  during  the  few  hours'  absence  of  his  chief. 

"  Came  ashore  from  a  schooner  about  Three  o'clock, 
sir.  He  asked,  first,  whether  Colonel  Daryl  was  in 
town,  or  at  Pearl  Hill ;  and  when  I  told  him  that  the 
Colonel  was,  probably,  at  the  Fort,  he  wrote  a  note  to 
be  sent  to  the  Hill,  and  then  asked  for  you,  sir." 

"  Asked  for  me,  eh  ?  Did  he  have  any  monkeys  with 
him,  Mr.  Hodge— beasts  of  any  kind  ?  " 

"Not  that  I  observed,  sir.  I  sent  a  bath-tub  up  to 
his  room,  as  he  wished ;  and  since  then  he  's  had  a 
broiled  chicken  and  coffee." 

Mr.  Dodge  looked  as  though  he  could  not  possibly 
reconcile  this  absence  of  a  zoologic  suite  with  the  new 
guest's  polite  recognition  of  his  own  continued  existence. 

"Must  be  wandering  in  his  mind,  to  be  so  agreeable," 
he  said,  musingly.  "  I  think  I  '11  step  up  and  see  the 
Scientific  Party,  then." 

Without  more  ado,  the  vivacious  host  of  "the  Straits  " 
betook  himself  to  a  staircase  near  at  hand  ;  and  up  this 
to  a  gallery-like  quadrangular  hall  upon  which  opened 
the  apartments  of  the  second  floor  ;  and  along  that  un 
til  he  reached  the  room  of  his  destination.  A  knock 
upon  the  door,  nicely  graduated  between  the  impera- 
380 


IT  IS  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  381 

tive  sharpness  of  eminent  landlordly  domain  and  the 
deprecatory  inquiring  tap  of  deferential  intrusion,  was 
promptly  answered  by  a  muffled  "  Come  in  !  "  Accord 
ingly,  in  walked  Mr.  Dodge,  to  behold  Dr.  Hedland 
tilting  comfortably  in  a  chair  by  a  window,  his  impos 
ing  outer  man  refreshed  in  a  suit  of  spotless  white 
linen,  and  his  black  hair,  massive  beard,  florid  face  and 
magisterial  spectacles  presenting  their  usual  effect  of 
scientific  intimidation. 

Ketaining  in  his  left  hand  the  local  newspaper  he  had 
been  reading,  the  naturalist  from  Sarawak  extended  the 
right,  as  he  slowly  arose,  to  his  friendly  caller,  and  was 
even  cordial  in  the  grasp  with  which  he  returned  the 
other's  greeting  of  welcome. 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  Dodge.  I  am  not  sorry,  myself,  to 
have  another  look  at  something  like  genuine  civilization. 
I  have  a  matter  of  business  here  with  my  friend  Daryl ; 
but  as  he  is  not  yet  down  from  the  Hill,  over  yonder,  I 
took  the  liberty  of  leaving  my  name  for  yourself." 

"  That  ape  is  certainly  for  sale,  at  last,"  reflected  his 
hearer,  "  or  he  'd  never  be  so  unmalevolent. "  Then  he 
replied,  with  diplomatic  caution  :  "  It  really  affords  me 
great  pleasure,  Doctor,  to  be  so  kindly  remembered  by 
one  to  whom  some  of  my  past  pecuniary  propositions 
have  surely  been  respectful,  even  if  casually  reckless." 

"  Pecuniary  propositions,  sir  ?  " 

"  Financial  temptations  they  might  be  called — in  ref 
erence  to  that  scientific  monkey,"  explained  Mr.  Dodge ; 
who,  from  mere  force  of  athletic  habit,  had  lifted  a 
heavy  traveling-bag  from  the  floor  and  was  dexterously 
casting  it  from  hand  to  hand  behind  his  back.  "Per 
haps  I  ought  to  inform  you  at  once,  Doctor,  that  apes 
are  going  begging  in  America  just  now.  A  red-hot 
'Revival'  in  the  rural  districts,  with  one  minister  to 
play  the  accordeon  while  another  takes-up  a  collection, 


382  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

has  made  the  business  of  moral  wild-beast  exhibitions 
very  sick,  for  a  time." 

"  Oh  I "  exclaimed  the  new  comer,  with  an  apprecia 
tive  laugh ;  "  I  see  that  you  suspect  me  of  an  insidious 
design  to  avail  myself  of  your  past  munificence  of  dis 
position  in  regard  to  the  mias.  No,  no,  Mr.  Dodge — 
won't  you  take  a  chair  ? — such  is  not  at  all  my  merce 
nary  purpose.  The  truth  is,  I  am  conscious  of  having 
been  scarcely  mannerly  with  you,  on  some  occasions  ; 
and  as  I  shall  not  be  in  Singapore  more  than  once  again 
before  returning  to  England,  it  occurred  to  me  that  not 
much  time  was  to  be  lost  if  you  were  to  be  shown  how 
much  I  have  really  appreciated  your  amiable  forbear 
ance  with  my  acerbities." 

This  farther  and  conclusive  evidence  of  mental  decay 
actually  grieved  Mr.  Dodge,  to  whom  the  previous 
ursine  irritability  of  the  scientific  sage  had  been  a  comic 
feast,  from  which  he  never  could  arise  without  a  pro- 
founder  delight  in  the  exquisite  aggravatability  of  el 
derly  unmarried  human  nature. 

"Upon  my  word,  sir,"  was  his  judiciously  tempos 
izing  manner  of  reply,  "  you  owe  me  no  acknowledge 
ments  for  my  having  been  amuse — I  mean  very  agree 
ably  affected — by  your  frequent  abstinence  from  the 
heartsickening  genialities  of  the  — the  unscientific 
herd." 

"'Heartsickening  genialities'  is  good!"  observed 
Dr.  Hedland  with  another  incredible  laugh. 

"  Why,  there 's  more  in  that  than  you  might  think," 
pursued'  the  active  American,  who,  having  at  last  re 
linquished  the  traveling-bag,  was  now  sitting  critically 
balanced  upon  the  high  back  of  the  chair  he  had  been 
invited  to  occupy  more  conventionally.  "  I  never  could 
stand  your  genial  customer — '  the  geen'nial  Mister 
Mivins ' ! — he's  always  such  an  everlasting  fool  I" 


IT  18  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  383 

The  hot  energy  of  this  characterization  was  eloquent 
of  many  an  hour's  frightful  suffering  from  the  gratu 
itously  emollient  pertinacities  of  the  impeccable  social 
type  described. 

"  I  must  take  it  as  a  compliment  then,  I  suppose, 
that  you  have  such  an  unfavorable  opinion  of  the  cast 
of  masculine  character  usually  thought  to  be  diametri 
cally  the  opposite  of  my  own,"  said  the  naturalist  with 
humorous  complacency. 

"  I  never  object  to  a  man  because  you  can  strike  fire 
in  him  without  treading  on  his  corns,"  returned  the 
host  of  "  the  Straits,"  not  yet  by  any  means  wholly  at 
ease  under  this  continued  absence  of  all  erudite  irasci 
bility.  Then  added,  as  by  a  happy  inspiration  for  the 
sure  provocation  of  the  sadly  missed  irateness  :  "You 
haven't  brought  the  monkey  ashore  with  you,  Doctor." 

"  Nor  even  to  Singapore,  Mr.  Dodge." 

"  Excuse  my  levity  of  bearing  then,  sir.  When  did 
he  die  ?" 

"  He  is  alive  and  well." 

"Dear  me!  you  don't  say  so,"  muttered  Felix,  the 
gymnastic,  so  discomfited  that  he  involuntarily  dropped 
into  his  chair  like  any  unelastic  mortal.  "  Then  I  take 
it  that  he  doesn't  turn  out  to  be  as  near  the  average 
foreign  arrival  in  New  York  as  your  theory  had  sup 
posed  ?" 

"My  theory,  you  say  ?"  retorted  the  Doctor,  looking 
curiously  at  him  ; — "Now  will  you  be  good  enough  to 
tell  me  what  you  've  understood  my  theory  to  be  ?" 

"Certainly;  though  you  must  make  some  allowance  for 
the  fact  that  I  'm  as  unscientific  as  any  saint  you  ever 
heard  of,  sir.  "We,  in  town  here,  judging  f.im  all  the 
stories  afloat,  understand  your  theory  to  be,  that  all 
creatures  animated  enough  to  wiggle,  from  eels  up  to 
elephants,  or  from  minnows  up  to  men,  are  only  so 


384  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

many  later  spring  styles  of  each  other ;  tbd  monkev 
without  a  tail  being  the  next-to-last  full-dress-for-cl in 
ner-parties  before  we  reach  the  human  swallow-tail. 
'  JVexi-to-last,'  I  say,  because  there  is  one  link  mi^sinor 
in  the  chain  here,  exactly  as  there  is  between  monkeys 
with  and  without  tails ;  and  between  them  and  the 
next  grade  of  incipient  American  aldermen  below 
them,  and  so  on.  Now,  sir,"  continued  this  frank  con 
fessor  of  his  own  scientific  ignorance,  grown  greatly 
interested  therein,  u  let  us  ask  ourselves,  boldly  :  what 
is  a  chain  ?  From  the  specimens  I  have  seen,  it  is  a 
succession  of  little  oblong  holes  in  space,  surrounded 
by  consecutive  material  links.  As  we  in  Singapore  ap 
prehend  your  chain  of  natural  history,  intended  to  con 
nect  mammoth,  man,  monkey,  and  so  on  down  to 
mouse,  minnow  and  marine  moss, — that  chain  is  abso 
lutely  complete  in  one  respect  at  least :  every  one  of 
the  holes  in  it  is  inconfutably  demonstrated  to  exist, 
and  all  that  remains  for  Science  is  to  discover  the  links 
to  go  around  them. — Am  I  right,  sir  ?"  concluded 
Mr.  Dodge,  shrill  with  atheistical  excitement — "am  I 
right  ?" 

"So  right  (I'm  afraid),"  assented  the  phenomenally 

tient  philosopher,  with  an  oddly  sad  meekness  — 
1  that  n,  certain  fair  acquaintance  of  ours  at  Kuchin, 
Ankeroo,  would  think  nothing  more  wanting  to 
iver  ^Qological  side  of  the  argument  perfect." 

'Ah--  -' nkeroo,"  said  the  other,  his  volatile 

mind  leaping  easily  to  a  new  train  of  suggestion, 
\s  a  long-headed  woman  for  you,  Dr.  Hed- 
lancH" 

"  L,  .•'  ory  favorable  to  me,  I  fear,"  laughed  the 
Doctor.  "You'll  be' somewhat  lonelier  here,  when 
the  family  goes  back  to  the  States.  By  the  by,  Mr. 
Dodge,  as  it  is,  unfortunately,  impracticable  for  me  to 


IT  IS  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  385 

transfer  Oshousee  to  you,  on  any  terms,  why  do  you  not 
try  to  procure  a  wild  mias  for  your  zoological  employer? 
I  am  satisfied,  from  personal  observation,  that  the  ani 
mal  can  easily  be  found  all  along  the  coal  regions  of 
Borneo,  from  Bruni  down  to  the  most  southerly  spur 
of  the  Kamiutong  Mountains,  always  excepting  Sara 
wak.  It  would  cost  you  comparatively  little  to  obtain 
two  or  three  half-grown  specimens  alive,  and  I  suppose 
that  a  single  one  transported  safely  to  America  would 
be  a  fortune  there." 

Such  recurrence  to  the  practical  commercial  aspect  of 
the  great  Orang-outan  question  restored  Mr.  Dodge  to 
something  like  his  normal  mental  condition,  and  a 
peculiar,  whimsically  slanting  light  shone  in  his  hazel 
eyes. 

"  Miases  affect  the  coal  regions,  do  they,  sir  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  so  far  as  Europeans  can  see.  Borneo's  coal- 
beds  seem  to  run  almost  all  the  way  around  the  coast, 
and  marshy  country  near  the  mouths  of  rivers  appears 
to  be  the  chosen  region  of  the  miases." 

"  Then,  of  course,  the  animals  must  be  rather  dan 
gerous  to  take  alive !" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  ; — how  do  you  mean,  Mr.  Dodge  ?" 

"  Why,  if  you  find  them  and  coal  together,"  ex 
plained  the  tall  gentleman  of  the  reddish  locks,  an  in 
describable  look  stealing  over  his  equivocating  counte 
nance.  "Don't  you  see,  that  if  they  belong  in  the 
coal-beds  they  must  be  bite-you-minous  apes  ?" 

A  gloomy  expression  came  into  the  florid  face  of  the 
shocked  philosopher  ;  but  before  he  could  say  anything 
a  servant  arrived  to  announce  Colonel  Daryl,  and  was 
immediately  followed  into  the  chamber  by  that  friend 
himself. 

"  Really,  Hcdland,  this  is  an  unexpected  pleasure  for 
me,"  remarked  the  Colonel,  shaking  hands  very  heartily 


386  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

with  his  old  crony ;  while  Mr.  Dodge  took  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  to  -withdraw  from  the  scene  with  an  en 
gaging  nod  of  good-day. 

To  the  Doctor,  as  to  the  Bajah,  Daryl  was  a  very 
different  person  from  the  austere-looking,  formal  ma 
turity  of  military  dignity  presented  by  himself  to  ordi 
nary  society.  His  deep-set  eyes  of  blue  became  fairly 
gentle ;  his  very  shoulders  relaxed  somewhat  of  their 
professional  stiffness,  and  his  voice  mellowed  agreeably. 
Accepting  now  the  chair  lately  occupied  by  the  proprie 
tor  of  the  house,  and  dropping  his  light  straw  hat  care 
lessly  to  the  floor,  he  was  yet,  indeed,  a  soldierly  figure, 
even  in  .loose  dark  coat  and  sailor-like  nether  appoint 
ment  of  white  duck  ;  but,  withal,  a  genial,  fraternizing 
kind  of  Colonel,  made  glad  by  a  good  comrade's 
presence. 

"Here  I  am,  Will,  unquestionably,"  said  the  natur 
alist,  blinking  kindly  at  him  while  polishing  his  specta 
cles  with  a  generous  silk  handkerchief.  "  Here  in  such 
haste,  too,  that  no  time  was  to  be  wasted  in  writing 
to  you  beforehand.  Knowing  that  you  frequented 
this  house — " 

"Yes,  I  fell  into  the  habit  while  Edwin  was  here 
with  me.  This  is  his  favorite  inn,  it  appears,  and  the 
reading-room  is  well  supplied  with  European  news 
papers." 

"  The  boy  is  off  again,  eh  ?" 

'Tor  a  short  time,  only.  The  Cressy  is  likely  to 
reappear  here  in  the  roads  at  any  hour,  and  may  even 
go  to  Sarawak." 

"I  can  believe,  then,  from  what  some  of  them  at 
'The  Grove  '  seem  to  think,  that  the  young  man  will  be 
wanting  to  '  invalid  '  himself  once  more  at  Singapore 
until  his  ship  comes  back.  Poor  lad  !  Blighted  hopes 
again,— eh,  Will  ?" 


IT  18  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  387 

"Judicious  anticipation  of  them,  rather,"  intimated 
Daryl,  with  a  faint  smile. 

"Lightning  shouldn't  strike  twice  in  the  same 
family,"  resumed  the  Doctor,  wonderfully  garrulous 
on  such  a  subject.  "  Your  boy  has  too  much  of  the 
true-born  English  gentleman  in  his  spirit  to  hanker 
long  after  riches.  You  remember  what  Juvenal  says 
about  the  intolerableness  of  a  rich  wife  : — Intolerabilius 
nihil  est,  quam  foemina  dives.  Pity  you  didn't  take 
some  comfort  for  yourself  from  that  consideration,  long 
ago,  Will  Daryl." 

"We  can't  all  be  philosophers,  Lawrence,"  the  Col 
onel  reminded  him,  with  tone  and  manner  suggestive  of 
little  inclination  to  pursue  that  social  question. 

"  Don't  think  that  I  want  to  make  one  of  you,  either, 
my  dear  fellow.  I  'm  rather  sick  of  philosophy,  for  a 
time,  myself.  But,  Daryl,  you  may  as  well  know,  at 
once,  that  I  am  here  after  you  especially  to  recall  cer 
tain  bygones  of  yours,  upon  which  I  hope  to  be  able  to 
throw  some  new  light.  Can't  we  go  somewhere  else  for 
a  private  conversation  ?— This  room  is  rather  '  stuffy, ' 
as  they  say  at  home." 

"The  evening  is  fine  ;  we  might  stroll  down  to  the 
Parade,  if  you  like,  and  be  as  safe  from  disturbance 
there,  in  a  cool  seat  under  the  trees,  as  in  any  place  I 
know  of.  Are  these  bygones  you  are  to  illuminate,  so 
tedious  in  character  that  we  must  forego  dinner  for 
them?" 

"  We  can  return  hither  in  time  to  dine,  I  fancy,"  re 
plied  Hedland,  extracting  a  dark  coat  from  his  traveling- 
bag,  and  proceeding  briskly  to  don  it  in  place  of  his 
white  one.  "  Let  us  be  off  to  your  public  privacy  as 
soon  as  you  please.  I  've  become  such  an  out-of-door 
character  in  this  part  of  the  world,  that  a  common  room 
suffocates  me." 


388  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

In  accordance  with  this  prompt  agreement  upon  des 
tination  the  two  friends  descended  harmoniously  to  the 
street ;  the  soldier  pondering  silently  what  new  whim 
had  possessed  the  other,  to  come  melodramatically 
mystifying  him  in  this  way ;  and  the  philosopher 
indulging  in  a  sprightliness  of  remark  upon  every 
passing  object,  from  hallway  to  portico,  that  made 
him  seem  less  his  wonted,  domineering  East  Indian 
self  than  ever. 

A  street  in  Singapore  during  the  later  hours  of  day 
light,  when  a  cooling  atmosphere  allows  and  invites 
European,  as  well  as  native,  to  take  the  air,  presents 
much  the  same  spectacle  of  curiously  miscellaneous 
Asiatic  personal  aspects  grafted  haphazardly  upon 
Western  military  and  commercial  exotic  growth,  as  can 
be  seen  in  any  of  the  larger  cities  of  India,  or  even  in 
Gibraltar.  In  miniature,  it  is  true ;  but  the  reduced 
limits  give  an  effect  of  concentration,  so  that  the  Ori 
ental,  traits  of  the  picture  seem  to  be  Brought  nearer  to 
the  visitor  from  abroad,  and  all  their  varied  characteris 
tics  of  nationality  and  dress  appeal  more  actively  to  the 
imagination  than  if  the  canvas  were  a  more  extended 
one.  When  Hedland  and  his  companion  strolled  down 
from  the  hotel  to  the  main  thoroughfare  of  the  town, 
and,  turning  to  the  left,  started  on  their  way  to  the  ap 
pointed  place  of  conference,  they  became  figures  in  a 
street-scene  as  picturesquely  incongruous  as  any  invad 
ing  camp.  For  a  short  distance  there  were  houses  of 
European  appearance  on  either  side  of  the  way, 
though  on  the  right  hand  they  were  but  a  single  line, 
with  only  a  short  interval  to  the  waters  of  the  bay, 
while  on  the  left  they  arose  behind  each  other  in  gradu 
ated  terracing,  until  some  distance  up  the  green  hill 
crowned  by  the  imposing  Government  House. 

Protestant  and  Catholic  churches  exhibited  their  re- 


IT  18  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  389 

spective  architectural  tokens  among  the  mansions  of 
civilized  life  on  the  terraces,  and  the  spars  and  funnels  of 
the  stately  shipping  of  Christendom  could  be  seen  above 
the  descending  roofs  on  the  seaward  side;  yet  the 
average  peopling  and  activities  of  the  highway  thus 
Europeanized  were  almost  wholly  Oriental.  Chiefly 
composing  the  slowly  moving  human  tides  on  either 
verge  of  the  perspective  were  swarthy  Malays,  in  their 
blue,  or  black,  embroidered  jackets,  striped  sarongs, 
and  sailor-trousers ;  almond-eyed  Chinamen,  in  white 
blouses  and  with  braided  queues  to  their  heels  ;  stoical, 
dark-hued  Arabs,  in  turbans,  and  robes  falling  below 
the  knees  ;  dignified  Parsees,  in  pointed  caps  and  flow 
ing  dress ;  Jewish-looking  Klings,  from  India,  with 
striped  scarf  around  the  head,  and  Bengalese  grooms 
in  red  caps  and  jackets ;  Portuguese,  in  shirt-sleeves  ; 
half-naked  Coolies,  and  Dyak  prahu  sailors,  and  Bugis, 
in  their  barbarous  native  costumes.  Between  these 
borders  of  many-tinted  and  oddly  contrasting  pedes 
trians,  the  thrifty,  round-faced  Chinese  merchant,  hat- 
less  and  bland,  drove  his  respectable  English  gig,  the 
European  exporter,  srnug  and  supercilious,  guided  his 
lumbering  hack,  and  the  garrison  officer  curvetted  with 
his  professional  charger. 

Only  these  two  latter  types,  and  an  occasional  sol 
dierly  red-coat  and  marine-blue  jacket  on  foot,  repre 
sented  the  civilized  link  connecting  such  an  Asiatic  world 
as  this  with  the  primly  ranked,  decorous  Christian  dwell 
ings,  churches,  shops  and  hotels  overlooked  by  the  Brit 
ish  Government  House  and  fortress.  Articulate  voice 
was  given  to  the  strangely  mixed  scene  in  the  chattering 
of  peripatetic  peddlers  of  fruit,  water,  vegetables,  and 
agar-agar  jelly ;  cookers  of  shellfish,  rice  and  sweet 
potatoes  at  little  portable  furnaces  ;  and  Chinese  bar 
bers  who  depilatated  ears,  as  well  as  skulls  and  chins, 


390  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

It  was  but  a  short  walk,  however,  for  the  friends, 
through  the  crowd  and  din,  before  they  emerged  upon  a 
well-made  though  somewhat  winding  road  along  the 
beach-front  of  the  city,  where  all  consecutive  buildings 
disappeared  in  a  grove  of  palms  on  the  land-side,  and 
the  fine  roadstead  and  its  islands  and  shipping  stretched 
out  in  unobstructed  beauty  of  view  towards  the  Java 
Sea.  Here  was  at  once  the  military  Parade-ground  and 
the  beginning  of  the  fashionable  drive  of  the  town, 
where,  on  occasions,  the  band  from  the  fort  discoursed 
martial  music.  Scattered  under  a  long,  skirting,  double 
row  of  grand  old  trees  were  benches  for  the  idle,  or 
weary,  whence  could  be  enjoyed  at  leisure  the  cool 
breezes  from  the  harbor,  and  the  moving  panorama  of 
gigmen,  horsemen,  and  scattered  pedestrians  on  the 
drive. 

A  shady  seat,  so  far  towards  the  easterly  ending  of  the 
wayside  grove  that  no  loiterers  had  yet  favored  its 
vicinity,  was  the  one  to  which  Colonel  Daryl  finally  led 
the  way.  When  his  friend  and  himself  were  comforta 
bly  settled  there,  the  inevitable  smoking  accompani 
ment  of  all  Eastern  conversation  was  introduced,  and 
then,  with  segars  aglow,  the  gentlemen  found  them 
selves  at  once  secure  in  practical  privacy,  and  under  as 
practical  public  protection.  Mountainous  undulations 
of  showery  grey  clouds  shut  out  the  sun ;  faint  shim 
mers  of  lightning  playing  fitfully  in  their  valleyed 
shadows  near  the  horizon,  while  along  the  snowy  sum 
mits  a  ragged  band  of  livid  gold  intensified  the  fleckless 
blue  of  the  higher  sky.  All  the  glare  and  glitter  of  a 
Tropical  day  were  gone ;  but  there  remained  a  clear, 
still  fulness  of  light,  in  which  roadway,  beach,  waters 
of  glassy  indigo,  the  confronting  verdurous  shore  of  the 
island  of  Battan,  and  the  scattered  silhouettes  of  vessels 
extending  indefinitely  towards  the  dimming  East,  had  a 


IT  IS  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  391 

fair,  cool  definition  of  surface  and  minuteness  of  out 
line  luxuriously  restful  and  propitiatory  to  the  jaded 
eye. 

"  There  is  no  other  spot  like  this  in  the  Indies,"  said 
Doctor  Hedland,  respiring  heavily,  as  though  willing  to 
make  the  most  of  the  atmosphere  as  well  as  of  the 
scene.  "Ah !  what  large  ship  is  that,  just  below  the 
Dutch  steamer  ?  She  was  not  there  when  our  schooner 
came  in,  this  afternoon." 

"The  Cvnianche,  they  call  her,"  replied  Daryl,  in 
differently; — "an  American  craft  that  brought  Mr. 
Effingham  and  his  family  this  way." 

"And  in  which,  of  course,  they  expect  to  leave  us, 
presently, ' '  added  the  wearer  of  the  Panama  hat.  '  'Who 
could  have  imagined  that  I  should  ever  be  in  love  with 
Yankees,  Will  ?  Do  you  know  I  have  actually  made 
them  promise  to  go  up  to  my  village  for  a  day,  or  two, 
before  leaving  Borneo  ?  The  ladies  have  known  noth 
ing  yet  of  Dyak  life  beyond  Kuchin,  and  it  will  be  the 
first  time  that  civilized  members  of  their  sex  have  seen  a 
mid-air  town." 

' '  How  do  you  expect  to  elevate  your  fair  guests  to 
such  high  society?  "  asked  the  Colonel,  rather  flippantly 
for  him.  "They  can  never  climb  all  those  vertical 
notched  posts  and  rickety  ladders.  Shall  you  have 
them  hoisted  with  cocoa  ropes  and  chairs  ?  " 

"  Nonsense  !  My  own  house,  you  may  remember,  has 
good  ladders,  at  easy  slants,  through  three  enclosed 
storeys,  from  the  ground  up." 

"  That  is  true  :  I  had  forgotten  it.— Lawrence,  you 
seem  positively  to  be  coming  out  as  a  squire  of  dames  ! 
What  has  caused  these  amazing  changes  ?  In  Sarawak, 
the  other  day,  there  was  a  certain  desperately  reckless 
spiritlessness  about  you,  that,  upon  the  whole,  I  did 
not  like  half  so  well  as  your  ordinary  dictatorial  ram- 


392  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

pancy — with  others,  I  mean,  of  course  ;  never  with  me, 
I  must  say  ;— and  now  I  find  you  grown  really  affable  ! " 
The  Colonel  half  laughed  as  he  caught  his  friend's  eye, 
inquiringly. 

"My  vanity  has  been  chastened — grievously  chast 
ened,"  began  the  philosopher  ;  but,  seeming  to  change 
his  mind  suddenly,  he  threw  off  the  penitential  air  and 
struck  abruptly  into  another  vein  :  "  To  business,  now, 
Daryl,  before  any  more  loungers  come  out  this  way. — 
Have  you  made  any  kind  of  a  guess,  as  the  Yankees  say, 
as  to  the  particular  page  in  your  past  history  that  this 
visit  of  mine  concerns  ?  " 

"  Guessing  has  never  been  my  infirmity.  I  am  wait 
ing,  with  exemplary  patience,  for  you  to  enlighten  me 
without  that,"  said  the  Colonel. 

The  Doctor's  spectacles  were  directed  to  his  unmoved 
face  with  tremendous  intensity,  and  the  Doctor's  broad 
right  hand  came  down  upon  his  left  knee  with  tingling 
emphasis. — 

"I've  traced  that  missing  man  of  yours  in  Sambas. 
What  do  you  think  of  that  ?  " 

Momentary  blank  surprise  appeared  in  the  soldier's 
changing  countenance,  and  then  followed  an  in 
credulous  smile. 

"You  were  very  considerate,  Hedland,  to  take  up 
the  wild  chase,  just  when  I  had  given  it  up  forever.  If 
Science  can  discover  what  finally  became  of  poor, 
demented  old  Euadh,  I  shall  have  a  new  respect  for  it 
after  this." 

"Leave  Science  alone,  if  you  please.  You  tracked 
the  man  to  Sambas ;  didn't  you  ?" 

"  And  there  he  disappeared  as  absolutely  as  a  vapor 
before  the  sun.' ' 

"  It  is  hard  for  a  man  wholly  to  disappear,  my  friend. 
By  a  common  socialized  instinct  of  self-preservation, 


IT  IS  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  393 

all  of  human  kind  on  the  face  of  the  earth  tacitly  and 
unceasingly  work  together  against  the  consummation. 
The  uttermost  wilderness,  or  desert  island,  of  the 
Globe  has  no  more  absolute  certainty  of  final  disappear 
ance  from  human  cognizance  for  the  most  unrelated  of 
mortals,  than  the  crowded  city's  by-way,  or  the  un 
frequented  village  footpath.  Fly  whither  he  may;  hide 
how  he  can ;  die,  even,  as  remotely  as  it  is  in  his 
stealthy  eagerness  to  contrive ;  and  he  shall  be  known 
of,  sooner  or  later  ;  alive  or  dead  ;  in  the  flesh,  or  as  a 
whitened  skeleton  ;  of  some  human  parts  yet  compact, 
or  remaining  only  in  a  single  bone  that  tells  as  unerr 
ingly  that  once  a  man  was  there.  Again  I  say,  it  is 
hard  for  a  man  wholly  to  disappear.  Were  it  otherwise, 
where  would  be  the  limits  to  the  murders  by  revenge, 
avarice,  jealousy  and  ambition,  and  the  suicides  by 
proud  despair  ?  The  best  earthly  assurance  of  safety  to 
your  life  and  mine ;  whether  from  others'  slaying  hands, 
or  our  own ;  lies  in  the  awful  fact,  that,  for  man,  not 
even  the  grave  is  a  perfect  hiding-place  save  by  the 
common  assent  of  all  created  men." 

An  involuntary  demonstration  of  growing  restlessness 
on  Colonel  Daryl's  part,  made  the  Doctor  aware,  that 
he  had  been  led  into  too  much  abstraction  for  the  en 
joyment  of  the  unphilosophical. 

"  I  believe  I  shall  become  the  most  incorrigibly 
garrulous  of  mortals,"  he  continued,  apologetically. 
"  Now  let  me  get  back  to  where  I  started.  The  man, 
Euadh,  as  you  call  him,  was  a  lunatic— was  he  not  ? — 
when  leaving  Batavia." 

"Undoubtedly.  Not  a  violent  madman,  however, 
but  possessed  of  a  delusion  keeping  him  in  continual 
terror.  Am  I  to  be  cross-examined,  Larry,  before  hear 
ing  anything  definite  about  your  miraculous  recovery  of 
the  Ions-lost  scent  ?" 


394  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  If  you  '11  be  so  kind,  Will.  I  want  a  little  detailed 
information  for  my  own  private  purposes,  no  less  than 
to  make  me  surer  of  the  identity  of  the  Sambas  fugitive 
who  has  been  traced.  You  never  saw  this  Ruadh  your 
self?" 

"  No  :  his  flight  took  place  before  my  time,  you  know. " 

"  But  your  father,  of  course,  knew  him  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  and  often  described  his  half-savage  pecu 
liarities  of  appearance  and  manner." 

"  Then  you  can  give  me  some  clear  idea  of  the  man's 
looks  and  nature,"  said  Hedland,  earnestly;  "and  I 
want  you  to  do  so,  if  you  will ;  and  also  to  sketch  for 
me,  once  more,  the  general  history  of  the  theft  of  the 
Will  and  other  papers,  and  what  could  be  ascertained 
thereafter  of  the  runaway's  travels." 

"I'll  do  my  best  for  you,"  answered  the  patient 
Colonel,  drawing  his  segar  to  a  fuller  light,  and  resign 
ing  himself  to  the  ordeal.  "My  half-uncle,  Roderick, 
brought  Ruadh  back  with  him  to  Surrey  from  one  of 
his  Irish  hunting  trips.  The  story  was,  that  he  had 
saved  the  man's  life  from  the  revengeful  rage  of  his  own 
countrymen ;  the  simple-minded  creature  being  sus 
pected  of  informing  a  disliked  landlord  that  some  of  his 
tenants  had  a  scheme  for  shooting  him  from  behind  a 
hedge.  Often  have  I  heard  my  father  describe  Ruadh 
as  the  wildest-looking,  hairiest  human  being  that  he 
ever  saw.  Red-headed,  and  red-bearded  from  his  very 
eyes,  his  whole  sinewy  body  was  also  clad  in  a  natural 
hirsute  attire ;  the  chest,  particularly,  being  shaggy 
like  a  dog's  coat.  In  stature  rather  below  the  average, 
prognathous  of  skull,  and  very  short  and  thick  in  the 
neck,  he  had  broad,  powerful  shoulders,  and  could  carry 
great  weights." 

"About  how  old  was  he  at  that  time?"  asked  the 
naturalist. 


IT  18  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  395 

"  Probably  twenty,  or  twenty-five.  He  could  not  tell, 
himself,  and  it  must  have  been  no  easy  matter  to  judge 
by  ordinary  standards.  He  might  have  been  older — or 
younger.  As  for  his  intelligence,  it  seemed  to  be  equal 
only  to  the  telling  of  his  own  name,  the  performance  of 
such  simple  labor  as  depended  chiefly  on  his  strength  of 
body,  and  a  silent,  dog-like  affection — first  for  his  young 
benefactor,  and  then  for  the  latter's  father  :  my  grand 
father.  It  is  useless  to  attempt  any  explanation  of  his 
gratuitous  aversion  to  my  father,  and  his  brother,  Ed 
win  Belmore's  grandfather.  He  seemed  both  to  hate 
and  fear  them  from  some  perverse  instinctive  jealousy 
of  their  consanguine  nearness  to  the  two  beings  of  his 
particular  devotion.  Out  of  this  aversion  appeared  to 
grow  a  fear  to  be  far  out  of  the  presence  of  my  grand 
father  while  Eoderick  was  an  exile  from  his  father's 
temporary  anger  in  Amsterdam.  A  wrong  instinct  it 
certainly  was,  and  not  reason,  that  made  this  devoted 
creature  regard  my  father  and  his  brothers  as  inimical 
to  the  hereditary  rights  of  their  erratic  step-brother. 
You  remember,  I  suppose,  Hedland,  what  I  have 
several  times  told  you  of  the  flight  of  Euadh,  with  the 
last-signed  Will  from  the  table,  and  the  title-deeds, 
sovereigns,  and  half-sheet  of  Eoderick's  Amsterdam 
letter  from  the  broken  secretary— on  the  day,  perhaps 
in  the  very  hour,  of  my  grandfather's  sudden  death?  " 

"  Yes  ;  those  details  are  clear  enough  in  my  recollec 
tion,"  said  the  Doctor,  puffing  his  segar  reflectively. 
"The  Will  carried  off  disinherited  the  offending  Eoder 
ick  in  favor  of  your  father  and  your  nephew's  grand 
father  ;  the  earlier  Will  left  behind  by  chance,  in  the 
secretary,  disinherited  your  father  and  his  brother  in 
favor  of  Eoderick.  When  the  latter  died  so  soon  after, 
in  Amsterdam,  all  would  have  been  right  for  your  side 
of  the  house,  after  all,  if  an  Irish  widow  and  infant  of 


396  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

your  late,  exemplary  half-uncle  had  not  come  upon  the 
scene,  and,  by  insisting  upon  the  whole  estate,  or  none, 
thrown  the  case  into  the  limbo  of  chancery.  I  recall, 
too,  that  your  devoted  wild  Irishman,  by  getting  some 
one  to  read  the  abstracted  part  of  Roderick's  letter  for 
him,  ascertained  whither  he  must  go  to  find  his  first 
master  again;  and,  accordingly,  fled  on  to  Holland, 
only  to  find  that  Roderick  was  dead.  Instinctively  fear 
ful  yet.  of  pursuit,  he  sailed  from  Amsterdam  to  Java 
as  a  Dutch  officer's  servant ;  and  in  Batavia  this  guilty 
terror,  augmented  by  rumors  of  the  coming  of  a  British 
fleet  to  the  city,  drove  him  mad  and  into  the  military 
hospital.  Very  well :  you  tracked  him  to  that  hospital : 
now  tell  me  what  record  they  have  of  him  there." 

The  energy  of  the  naturalist's  rapid  speech  and  in 
quisitive  manner,  and  the  old  associations  revived  by 
the  subject  under  discussion,  could  not  fail  to  have  an 
animating  affect  upon  Colonel  Daryl,  who  now  respond 
ed  like  a  witness  conscious  of  some  personal  concern  in 
his  testimony. 

"  In  the  hospital  register  of  entries  and  observations 
Ruadh's  name  and  nativity  are  given  according  to  his 
own  statement  of  them ;  and  he  is  set  down  rather  as 
a  harmless  monomaniac,  with  occasional  paroxysms  of 
terror,  than  as  a  dangerous  lunatic.  His  dress  is  de 
scribed,  his  age  conjectured  as  '  about  thirty,'  and  men 
tion  is  made  of  a  flat,  oilskin-covered  object,  or  package, 
held  by  a  stout  cord  around  his  neck  and  concealed 
under  the  clothing  of  his  breast.  As  the  patient  was  a 
Roman  Catholic  and  so  low  in  the  scale  of  human  intel 
ligence,  this  object  was  supposed  to  be  some  greatly 
valued  talisman,  or  '  charm ' ;  especially  as  he  became 
violently  excited,  and  vehemently  made  signs  of  the 
cross  over  it,  when  any  one  offered  to  touch  the  object. 
Consequently  they  allowed  him  to  be  undisturbed  in  its 


IT  18  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  397 

possession.  When  surprised,  or  startled,  or  irritated, 
he  had  a  fashion  of  reiterating  his  own  name  with  great 
emphasis  ;  any  mention  of  England,  or  the  English,  in 
his  presence,  threw  him  into  convulsions  of  terror ;  and 
at  sight  of  a  red  article  of  apparel,  a  sword,  or  a  mus 
ket,  he  would  make  frantic  efforts  to  escape  by  the 
nearest  opening — door,  or  even  window.  He  had  no 
particularly  vicious  traits  ;  but  if  a  cane,  or  any  kind 
of  stick,  was  given  to  him,  the  slightest  pretext  of 
offence  was  sufficient  for  his  excitement  into  a  kind  of 
frenzied  glee,  in  which  he  would  nourish  his  staff  wildly 
around  the  nearest  head,  until  restrained." 

"  By  the  Great  Mogul !"  ejaculated  Doctor  Hedland. 
— "Excuse  me  .  .  .  goon." 

The  Colonel  waited  a  moment  for  some  explanation 
of  this  irrelevant  interruption  ;  but  as  his  friend  merely 
puffed  vigorously  and  stared  persistently  out  at  the  road, 
he  proceeded : 

"  When  the  coming  of  our  ships  to  Batavia,  in  resent 
ment  of  Holland's  submission  to  Bonaparte,  was  immi 
nent,  it  was  impossible  to  keep  the  hospital  free  from 
the  city's  general  panic.  Keepers  and  nurses  shared 
the  common  perturbation,  and  the  Irish  patient  over 
heard  their  gossip  about  the  dreaded  red-coats.  Dis 
cipline  was  relaxed  in  the  institution  and,  one  day, 
Ruadh  escaped.  I  don't  know  that  it  is  necessary  for 
me  to  go  any  further  with  the  story,"  concluded  the 
Colonel,  with  an  inquiring  look  at  his  companion  ;  "  you 
must  remember  all  about  the  hiding  in  the  Sambas 
prahu." 

"Perfectly,  Will.  The  poor  creature  came  up  out  of 
the  prahu's  hold  in  Sambas ;  of  that  you  had  report 
from  the  prahu  rajah  himself ;  and  from  that  time  forth 
you  had  neither  sight  nor  tidings  of  him.  How  long 
ago  was  that  ?" 


398  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  Between  thirty  and  forty  years." 

"Very  well.  I  have  already  insisted  that  it  is  prac 
tically  impossible  for  a  man  wholly  to  disappear  from 
the  knowledge  of  his  kind,  whether  above  or  below 
ground.  Now,  then,  let  me  tell  you  what  I  have  very 
unexpectedly  heard  about  the  farther  adventure  of  your 
Irish  Esau,  or  Orson,  from  that  unlikeliest  of  mortals, 
a  vagrant  Arab  priest." 

Whereupon,  after  casting  the  remnant  of  his  segar 
into  the  grass,  Hedland  related  to  his  amazed  auditor 
the  substance  of  Medlani's  narrative ;  reserving  only 
the  portions  from  which  he  had  drawn  inferences  affect 
ing  a  matter  of  his  own  private  scientific  interest. 

" The  identity  is  unmistakable!"  exclaimed  Colonel 
Daryl,  eagerly  :  "  though  the  general  story  sounds  so 
much  like  some  of  the  superstitious  fabrications  of  the 
Dyaks.  I  must  make  immediate  preparations  to  go  to 
Sambas  again.  When  shall  you  return,  Lawrence  ?" 

"I  must  go  to-morrow  morning.  This  escapade  to 
us  of  Makota's  wife  may  bring  trouble  to  the  village,  if 
I  am  known  to  be  absent." 

"  I  cannot  go  quite  so  soon  as  that,  but  shall  take  the 
first  Dutch  mail.  Is  there  anything  to  detain  us  now 
from  returning  to  your  hotel  to  dinner  ?  I  can't  part 
from  you  to-night." 

"  The  tale  is  told,  I  believe,"  replied  the  naturalist, 
as  both  arose  from  the  bench  to  begin  their  short  walk 
back  to  "  the  Straits  "  ;  "  only,  my  dear  boy,  instead  of 
going  to  Sambas  you  must  come  first  to  my  village.  I 
shall  explore  for  the  closed  opening  to  that  cave,  in 
Mount  Tubbang,  where  the  '  Antu  Queen '  and  her 
offspring  are  reported  to  have  harbored  a  few  years  ago  ; 
and  from  there  we  will  go  up  to  Songi  and  towards  the 
Simunjon,  and  then  southward  and  backward,  by  way 
of  the  Simpang-kira,  to  Sambas." 


IT  18  HARD  FOR  A  MAN,  ETC.  399 

"  I  shall  resign  myself  wholly  to  you  in  the  matter," 
assented  the  Colonel,  lightly.  "  Whether  I  find,  or  do 
not  find,  anything  of  importance  to  my  material  interests, 
it  will  at  least  be  worth  while  to  take  up  this  curiously 
recovered  clue,  and  see  how  much  nearer  it  can  be  run 
to  earth." 

Upon  regaining  without  notable  incident  the  hostelry 
of  Mr.  Dodge,  our  two  friends  betook  themselves  to 
dinner  in  a  private  apartment,  at  which  Dr.  Hedland 
figured  chiefly  as  a  half-abstracted  spectator  of  the 
Colonel's  thoroughly  English  achievements. 

"Now  that  I  think  of  it,  Daryl,"  said  the  Doctor, 
when  the  cheese  was  on  the  board,  "  those  Dutchmen[at 
the  Batavia  hospital  must  have  been  puzzled  over  the  or 
thography  of  your  will-stealer's  odd  name.  Did  they 
come  near  enough  to  the  right  spelling  for  legal  pur 
poses,  in  case  the  identity  should  be  disputed  in  court  ?" 

"  That,  and  the  personal  description,  together,  make 
the  identification  simply  indisputable,"  returned  his 
epicurean  companion,  confidently.  "As  I  have  told 
you,  it  was  a  peculiarity  of  the  poor  creature  to  chatter 
his  name  over  and  over  again,  when  in  the  least  excited. 
It  would  be  'O'Shawnessy  !  O'Shawnessy  !  O' " 

"  How's  that  ?— O' Shawn— what  are  saying,  Daryl  ?" 
cried  the  suddenly  bewildered  philosopher. 

"Why,  you  see,  that  was  his  patronymic,"  laughed 
the  Colonel,  who  seemed  to  be  growing  young  again. 
— "Another  glass  of  wine,  Larry. — He  was  so  exclu 
sively  Ruadh  the  Ked  to  all  of  our  family,  that  I  don't 
think  one  of  us  ever  called,  or  mentioned,  or  thought 
of  him  by  any  other  designation.  I  doubt  if  my 
nephew  realizes,  to  this  day,  that  the  evil  genius  of  our 
hereditary  fortunes  rejoiced  in  the  cognominal  polysylla 
bles  they  managed  to  get  down  so  recognizably  on  the 
hospital  register." 


400  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"O'Shawnessy !"  repeated  the  Doctor,  in  a  dazed, 
mechanical  way.  "  O'Shaw-ness-y,"  he  reiterated, 
more  slowly,  staring  blankly  across  the  table. — 
"O'SHAWNESSY!"  he  almost  shouted,  half  rising 
from  his  chair,  falling  sharply  back  into  it  again,  and 
bringing  down  a  fist  with  reckless  violence  upon  the 
board  :  "I  tell  you,  sir,  that  settles  it !  I  could  swear 
to  the  whole  thing  now !  Oh,  the  idiot  that  I  've 
been !" 

The  manner  in  which  he  slapped  his  forehead  at  this 
incoherent  peroration,  and  looked  as  though  inclined  to 
tear  his  hair  also,  really  alarmed  the  astonished  be 
holder  for  his  friend's  wits. 

"  Why,  Hedland,  what  is  all  this  excitement  about  ?  " 
queried  Colonel  Daryl,  with  uplifted  eyebrows. 

Smiling  with  much  ghastliness  ;  his  large  face  ruddier 
than  ever  and  his  spectacle-glasses  shining  fantastically 
in  the  candlelight ;  the  materialist  of  Science  leaned 
forward  upon  the  table  on  his  folded  arms,  and  empha 
sized  the  following  question  with  a  pointed  forefinger  : 

"Will  Daryl,  have  I  ever  seemed  to  you  like  a  one 
sided,  opinionated,  obstinate,  wrong-headed,  dogmatical 
donkey  of  a  man  ?  " 

"  You  put  it  so  very  strongly,  my  dear  friend,"  be 
gan  the  perplexed  Colonel — 

"No:— be  honest,  now— haven't  I  often  struck  you 
as  being — '; 

"  You  have  always  had  the  courage  of  your  convic 
tions,"  interrupted  Daryl,  hastily.— " Perhaps  you've 
been  a  little  extreme,  at  times." 

"It  amounts  to  the  same  thing  :  of  course  I  have," 
resumed  the  self  accuser,  in  a  tone  of  satisfaction. 
"Now,  then,  I've  got  just  one  thing  to  add,  after 
which,  if  you  please,  we  '11  talk  of  other  subjects : — 
When  you  come  to  Pa  Jenna's  village,  and  we  go  to- 


A  SIGNET-RING  RETURNED.  401 

gether  to  Tubbang  cave,  I  think  that  I  can  give  you 
ample  proof  that  I  have  been  the  most  egregious  scien 
tific  failure  on  the  face  of  the  earth  I" 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

A  SIGNET-  RING  RETURNED. 

IN  the  Imperial  palace  at  Bruni  was  an  apartment 
known  as  the  Hall  of  the  Sacred  Jars,  to  enter  which, 
or  even  approach  beyond  a  certain  outer  boundary,  was 
death  for  any  other  person  than  the  Sultan,  and  the 
hereditary  half-priestly  officer  of  the  household  having 
it  in  charge.  It  was  a  long,  narrow  room,  wholly  with 
out  windows,  deep  in  the  interior  of  the  building ; 
floored  with  heavy  Turkish  mats  and  completely  walled 
and  ceiled  with  yellow  silks.  On  a  long  shelf,  or  divan, 
also  silk -covered,  extending  up  either  side,  were 
ranged  a  number  of  rudely  fashioned  and  vari 
ously  colored  Eusa  jars  ;  so  called  from  the  figure  of  a 
rusa,  or  stag,  represented  in  some  contrasting  tint  upon 
the  side  of  each.  An  immemorial  superstition,  whether 
of  Mahometan  or  Hindoo  origin,  attributed  supernat 
ural  qualities  to  these  jars  ;  such  as  the  power  of  sup 
plying  indefinitely  anything  once  placed  within  them — 
rice,  or  wine,  or  even  treasure.  Traditions  of  the 
palace  asserted  that  they  had  more  than  once  exerted 
these  marvelous  virtues  in  remote  reigns  ;  when,  prob 
ably,  any  ingenious  follower  of  the  court  having  an 
ambitious  end  to  gain  from  his  credulous  sovereign, 
needed  not  so  very  much  artful  contrivance  and  con 
nivance  to  make  the  magic  vessels  appear  to  yield  some 


402  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

imperially  favorite  tipple,  or  emollient  rupees,  inex 
haustibly.  But  for  nearly  a  century  the  fitfully  bounti 
ful  Rusas  had  held  secondary  place  to  a  larger  object, 
standing,  between  two  perpetually-burning  suspended 
lamps,  on  a  species  of  pedestal,  or  altar,  hung  with 
gold-embroidered  crimson  velvet,  at  the  farther  end  of 
the  tomb-like  apartment.  This  was  the  great,  talking 
Gusi  Jar  of  Bruni ;  an  ungraceful,  bulky  specimen  of 
Oriental  pottery,  (presumably  Chinese),  olive-green  in 
color,  and  having  stags  and  dragons  painted  upon  it. 
Throughout  Borneo  the  Gusi  was  renowned  for  having 
uttered  cabalistic  speech  at  divers  crises  of  the  State, 
when  reverently  consulted  by  the  lang  de  per  Tuam,  or 
Sultan,  and  was  believed  always  to  wail  like  a  creature 
in  torment  when  a  death  was  impending  at  the  palace. 

Every  day,  before  entering  his  surow  to  give  public 
or  private  audiences,  it  was  the  custom  of  the  present 
ruler  of  Borneo  Proper  to  enter  the  Hall  of  the  Sacred 
Jars :  having  left  his  slippers  and  attendants  at  the 
door ;  and  there,  kneeling  at  some  distance  from  the 
dimly  illuminated  Gusi,  await  any  supernatural  sign 
that  might  be  forthcoming  within  a  reasonable  space  of 
minutes.  Absolute  silence  being  the  necessarily  usual 
effect  of  this  ceremony,  the  Sultan  commonly  emerged 
from  it  with  a  comfortable  belief  that  his  serene  wisdom 
would  require  no  magical  instruction,  or  warning,  for 
the  ensuing  twenty-four  hours.  Nevertheless,  his  dire- 
fully  fear-stricken  ears  had  heard  the  mystic  Jar  both 
wail  and  speak  :  once,  when  a  favorite  Sultana  had  been 
poisoned  by  one  who  wished  to  succeed  that  hapless 
female,  but  had  a  rival  more  astute  than  herself ;  and 
once,  when  the  ghostly  assurance,  "Makota  is  thy 
Friend  !"  left  him  no  choice  but  to  grant  some  request 
lately  urged  by  that  highly-befriended  Pangeran. 

On  the  day  after  the  latter  restless  prince's  reappear- 


A  SIGNET-RING  RETURNED.  403 

ance  in  Bruni  from  Pat u sen,  vowing  vengeance  for  the 
irreparable  dishonor  of  Amina's  flight  to  the  Sarawak 
sirani,  the  Sultan  paid  his  visit  to  the  Gusi  in  a  state  of 
visible  trepidation ;  the  bold  return  of  the  seditious  parti 
san  of  the  wild  Shereefs  having  impressed  his  ever  weak 
and  wavering  mind  with  a  dread  of  new  perils  for  his 
always  precarious  hold  on  the  musnud  of  Borneo.  A 
deer's  cry  had  been  heard  during  the  night  on  the  hill 
where  stood  the  blackened  ruins  of  Usop's  house,  and  this 
Dyak  omen  of  coming  evil  was  not  without  its  effect  upon 
the  superstitious  old  Malay.  When,  with  bared  feet  and 
hesitating  step,  he  entered  the  vault-like  chamber  of  fate 
on  this  occasion ;  closing  the  door  behind  him  as  obligated ; 
it  might  have  been  either  his  quickened  hearing  or  ner 
vous  imagination  that  intimated  to  his  fears  a  faint  noise 
from  the  Gusi  Jar.  Dropping  instantly  upon  his  knees, 
and  then  bowing  his  face  to  the  floor,  the  terrified  Com 
mander  of  the  Faithful  listened  blindly  and  breathlessly. 

By  the  feeble  rays  of  the  two  earthen  lamps  swing 
ing  on  either  side  of  it,  the  wonderful  Jar  was  visible 
only  in  the  brighter  colors  of  its  fantastic  decorations, 
which  had  the  weird  appearance  of  inscrutable  symbols 
poised  in  darkened  space. 

"Will  the  Spirit  of  the  Gusi  speak  to  its  slave?" 
quavered  the  prostrate  Sultan,  after  some  tremulous 
waiting  for  a  sign. 

Breathless  stillness  returned  for  a  period  that  seemed 
long  to  the  fearful  suppliant,  and  then  a  smothered 
voice  came  from  the  Jar  : 

"  lang  de  per  Tuam,  possess  thyself  of  the  Ring.  It 
is  thy  safety." 

The  turbaned  figure  upon  the  floor  grovelled  there  in 
an  agony  of  fright  at  the  sound,  not  daring  to  look  up  ; 
and  it  was  some  moments  before  his  lips  could  form 
the  entreating  words  : 


404  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  What  King,  Spirit  of  the  Gusi  ?" 

But  there  the  supernatural  utterance  ended.  A  repe 
tition  of  the  question  evoked  no  further  speech  from 
the  oracle  ;  and  at  last,  with  moisture  beaded  upon  his 
swarthy  temples,  and  limbs  scarcely  able  to  support 
him,  the  Sultan  staggered  to  the  door,  and  came  out 
amongst  his  waiting  attendants  with  face  and  bearing 
which  revealed  to  every  eye  that  the  Gusi  Jar  had 
either  wailed  or  spoken. 

Within  an  hour  palace  and  town  knew  something 
more  or  less  indefinite  of  the  miracle  ;  and  Makota, 
who  suddenly  appeared  amongst  guards,  slaves  and 
chattering  idlers  in  the  very  heart  of  the  imperial  resi 
dence,  without  any  one  knowing  how  he  had  got  there, 
proclaimed  in  a  loud  voice,  that  he  must  have  private 
audience  immediately  with  lang  de  per  Tuam. 

The  presumptuous  clamor  with  which  this  demand 
was  made  found  no  one  bold  enough  to  offer  any  imme 
diate  answer,  until  a  richly-attired  Pangeran  stepped 
out  from  the  adjacent  curtained  portal  of  the  surow,  or 
audience-room,  and  angrily  approached  the  intruder. 

"  What  means,  Makota,  such  conduct  as  this,  almost 
in  the  presence  of  his  Sublime  Highness  ?  Do  you  dare 
to  bring  your  treason  here,  again,  when  Usop  no  longer 
lives  to  save  you  with  his  renegade  Kadiens  ?" 

"You  are  a  boy,  Budrudeen ! "  retorted  Makota, 
contemptuously.  Then,  as  upon  second-thought :  "But 
you  have  eyes  to  see  ;  and  see  you  shall,  how  a  wronged 
man  dares  to  come  back  to  the  Sublime  Master  whose 
face  has  been  set  against  him  by  the  lies  of  the  Chris 
tian  dogs  and  false  Malays,  Look  1" 

He  pointed,  with  a  lean  brown  forefinger,  through  a 
window  in  the  ante-chamber  commanding  a  view  of 
the  hill-slopes  behind  the  palace ;  and  the  young 
prince  and  others,  involuntarily  gazing  thither,  beheld, 


A  SIGNET-RING  RETURNED.  405 

to  their  astonishment,  that  the  green  heights  were 
swarming  with  wild  figures  in  the  full  warlike  array  of 
Illanaon  Dyaks. 

"Infamous  traitor  !"  exclaimed  Budrudeen,  tearing 
his  kris  from  its  scabbard,  with  an  obvious  intention 
to  throw  himself  bodily  upon  the  darkly  smiling  out 
law.  "Why  do  you  prevent  me,  brothers  ?"  he  pro 
tested,  struggling  with  the  Pangerans  who  had  grasped 
his  arms.  "Do  you  not  see  that  he  has  brought  his 
sea-robbers  to  the  very  doors  of  the  Sultan,  while  we 
have  been  sleeping  ?  Will  no  one  dare  to  strike  down 
the  audacious  rebel  ?" 

"You  are  a  boy,  Budrudeen!"  repeated  Makota, 
coolly  indifferent  alike  to  the  kris  and  the  denunciation. 
"  You  should  have  kept  your  loyal  Kadiens  on  the 
hills,  instead  of  guarding  their  prahus,  if  Bruni  was  to 
give  no  welcome  to  my  brave  Illanaons,  who  needed  not 
come  here  with  sumpitans  and  shields  before  the  sirani 
harbored  in  Sarawak. ' ' 

"  Seize  him  !  "  cried  Budrudeen  to  some  of  the  steel- 
corseletted  body-guard,  who  were  now  wonderingly  and 
not  very  boldly  at  hand. 

"Follow  me,  all  of  you,  to  the  presence  of  our  lord, 
the  Sultan,'  was  the  answering  command  of  the  arch- 
plotter  ;  who  forthwith  strode  composedly  through  the 
shrinking  ranks  of  guards  and  courtiers  into  the  surow  ; 
even  his  exasperated,  young  enemy  being  constrained 
to  silent  acquiescence  by  the  decisive  movement. 

Already  it  had  become  known  in  the  chamber  of 
audience  that  palace  and  town  were  suddenly  beset  by 
Illanaons,  who  had  come  over  the  mountains  by  night, 
and  every  one  in  authority  was  nerveless  to  suggest 
any  effective  measure  of  defence.  When  the  lawless 
leader  of  this  summary  invasion  bowed  himself,  with 
aspect  of  loyal  humility,  before  the  musnud,  all  was  in 


406  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

confusion  about  the  Sultan,  and  that  hapless  potentate 
could  only  stare  around  him  in  pitiable  alarm. 

"  Let  not  our  Lord  who  Rules  be  troubled  because  of 
what  he  sees  and  hears,"  said  Makota,  with  a  specious 
air  of  deferential  reassurance.  "While  his  Pangerans 
talked  foolishness  with  their  women,  or  hunted  turtles' 
eggs  in  their  pleasure-prahus ;  trusting  to  the  war-ships 
of  the  Sarawak  sirani  to  defend  the  musnud ;  Makota 
has  gathered  true  warriors  to  the  standard  of  the 
Prophet,  and  brings  them  here  to  guard  more  securely 
their  sublime  Sultan,  whose  slaves  they  are." 

While  yet  the  impotent  representative  of  Borneon 
sovereignty  was  hesitating  for  an  answer  to  this  enig 
matical  address,  there  moved  forward  from  the  cowed 
group  of  princes  and  officers  around  the  imperial 
divan  a  short,  gravely  visaged  middle-aged  man, 
whose  turban  and  jacket  bore  the  golden  ornaments  of 
high  rank. 

"Do  the  loyal  subjects  of  His  Sublime  Highness 
enter  Bruni  like  thieves  in  the  night  ?"  asked  this  per 
sonage,  sternly  regarding  the  rebellious  Pangeran. 
"The  Sultan  wants  no  protection  from  such  as  you; 
and  I,  as  his  Bandhara,  command  you  to  dismiss  these 
sea-robbers  at  once,  or  stand  accused  as  an  enemy." 

"  Had  I  come  as  an  enemy,  Muda  Hassim,  would  not 
Bruni  now  be  mine  ?"  was  the  taunting  reply.  "  Where 
are  your  loyal  Kadiens,  who  were  lately  so  brave  against 
Usop,  when  the  sirani's  ships  were  here  ?  In  the  forts  ? 
As  well  might  they  be  on  Pulo  Labuan.  In  their 
prahus  ?  Illanaon  warriors  know  the  paths  of  the  hills 
as  well  as  the  tides  of  the  river." 

"Then  let  them  know  that  there  is  a  ship  of  the 
sirani  now  at  Pulo  Combong,"  exclaimed  Budrudeen, 
impetuously,  "and  one  of  my  sampans  can  summon  it 
hither  in  an  hour  !" 


A  SIGNET-RING  RETURNED.  407 

"That  would  be  too  late,  Pangeran,"  said  Makota, 
with  ominous  confidence.  In  fact,  the  apparently  fear 
less  calmness  of  the  traitor  in  a  scene  where  nearly  all 
the  other  participants  were  supposably  his  deadly  foes, 
must  have  been  surprising  to  those  who  were  not  aware 
that  he  was  in  secret  collusion  with  no  less  a  familiar  of 
the  palace  than  Mohammed,  the  Keeper  of  the  Sacred 
Jars,  and  had  partisans  covertly  distributed  around  the 
musnud  itself. 

"  lang  de  per  Tuam,  it  is  with  your  sublime  High- 
'ness,  and  not  with  the  friends  of  the  Sarawak  sirani, 
that  I  have  business,"  continued  Makota,  inclining  his 
head  again  at  the  speechless  Sultan's  feet.  "  I  come  to 
you,  as  a  misjudged  and  wronged  Malay  prince,  for  your 
sublime  permission  that  I  may  pursue  the  Dyak  dogs 
who  have  wiled  away  a  woman  of  my  harem  and  covered 
me  with  dishonor.  With  my  warriors  I  might  have 
gone  to  Pa  Jenna's  village  without  coming  first  to 
Brurii ;  but  I  am  a  Prince  of  Borneo ;  your  sublime 
Highness's  loyal  subject,  whatever  the  usurping  sirani 
and  his  minions  may  say  ;  and  I  come  to  you  humbly, 
with  an  army  as  my  offering,  and  ask,  only,  that,  with 
a  few  prahus,  I  may  go  to  seek  what  is  my  own." 

"He  speaks  well,"  muttered  the  Sultan,  finding 
power  of  speech  at  last  and  glancing  at  Muda  Hassim. 

"He  speaks  falsely,  your  sublime  Highness — it  is  but 
a  traitor's  pretence  !"  broke  in  Budrudeen  once  more. 
"  His  Illanaons  hold  the  hills,  and  we  are  in  his  power, 
if  a  sampan  is  not  instantly  sent  to  call  Tuan  Besar's 
ship  from  Pulo  Combong." 

"  Tuan  Besar  !"  echoed  Makota,  with  a  wicked  glit 
ter  in  his  snaky  eyes.  "You  are  brave,  Pangeran, 
because  you  wear  upon  your  hand  the  charmed  ring  of 
the  sirani's  Kajah." 

"Ring  !"  ejaculated  the  Sultan,  excitedly  remember- 


408  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

ing  the  words  of  the  Gusi  geni.  "What  ring  is  that, 
Budrudeen?" 

"It  was  given  to  me  by  Tuan  Brooke,  your  sublime 
Highness,  on  the  day  of  Usop's  battle  with  the  ships." 

"  Give  it  to  me !"  exclaimed  the  Sultan,  his  voice  trem 
bling  with  eagerness  and  a  hand  childishly  outstretched. 

"I  can  not — I  dare  not,  lang  de  per  Tuam,"  returned 
the  young  Pangeran,  shrinking  in  surprised  dismay  at 
the  unexpected  command  ;  "  I  have  sworn  by  Allah 
that  it  shall  not  leave  my  hand  in  life." 

"It  is  a  talisman  of  the  sirani,  and  keeps  its  pos 
sessor  in  safety,"  sneered  the  cunning  rebel-chief,  well 
knowing  what  the  Gusi  Jar  had  spoken. 

"It  is  mine!"  screamed  the  superstitious  imbecile 
of  the  musnud,  now  half-distracted  at  the  idea  of  being 
refused  what  his  ignorant  fancy  recognized  as  the  talis 
man  of  his  own  safety.  "  Seize  him,  guards,  and  tear 
it  from  his  hand  !" 

In  a  moment  the  whole  audience-chamber  was  in 
commotion.  White-turbaned  body-guards,  with  their 
spears,  made  a  tardy  movement  towards  the  astounded 
wearer  of  the  ring ;  while  Muda  Hassim,  waving  them 
off  and  appealing  passionately  to  the  Sultan  for  a  far 
ther  hearing  of  the  matter,  interposed  between  his 
brother  and  themselves. 

"Seize  the  traitor!"  Makota  shouted,  repeating  the 
order  of  which  he  had  so  lately  been  himself  the  sub 
ject,  and  springing  forward  with  drawn  kris. 

As  though  his  words  had  been  a  signal  previously 
agreed  upon,  a  number  of  hitherto  quiet  figures  in  the 
surow  displayed  their  weapons  at  the  sound,  and 
crowded  upon  Muda  Hassim  aud  Budrudeen  with  men 
acing  gestures.  Through  either  fear  or  treachery  the 
guards  of  the  Sultan  seemed  paralyzed,  and  there 
would  have  been  bloodshed  on  the  spot  had  not  a  group 


A  SIGNET  RING  RETURNED.  409 

of  Pangerans  who  were  in  sympathy  with  the  Band- 
hara  and  his  gallant  brother,  gathered  about  the  two 
devoted  men,  and  hurried  them  backward  from  the 
surow  into  the  anteroom,  where  their  nakodahs  were 
in  waiting. 

Makota's  characteristic  conspiracy  to  bring  destruc 
tion  upon  the  English  party  in  the  Borneon  capital  was 
now  in  full  tide  of  accomplishment.  By  the  wiliest, 
find,  at  the  same  time,  boldest  of  machinations,  the 
weak-minded  Euler  of  Bruni  had  been  brought  to  a 
violent  open  rupture  with  the  favorite  brother  of  his 
chief  minister  and  rightful  successor;  and  the  arch- 
conspirator  had  also  prepared  his  means  to  take  instant 
and  merciless  advantage  of  this  breach.  It  was  his 
policy  to  pretend  loyalty  to  the  musnud  throughout  his 
whole  career  of  outlawry ;  always  asserting  that  his 
apparent  seditions  were  really  in  behalf  of  a  sovereign 
temporarily  deceived  and  betrayed  by  the  English  and 
their  corrupted  Malay  allies.  On  this  occasion,  while 
practically  master  of  the  city,  the  pretext  was  that 
Muda  Hassim  and  his  party  were  purposely  leaving 
Bruni  unguarded  to  any  foreign  ship  that  might  arrive 
— perhaps  even  to  H.  M.  S.  Hazard,  now  at  anchor 
off  the  island  of  Combong,  down  the  river — and  that 
only  a  native  force,  brought  thither  as  he  had  brought 
one,  could  avert  the  final  extinction  of  Mussulman  rule 
in  Borneo  Proper. 

Budrudeen,  the  Bandhara,  and  their  friends  and  fol 
lowers,  bewildered  at  first  by  the  fatuous  imperial 
wrath  and  overpowering  hostile  demonstration  so  sud 
denly  precipitated  upon  them,  no  sooner  reached  the 
outside  of  the  palace  than  they  realized  that  they  must 
fight  for  their  lives.  Not  only  was  the  building  sur 
rounded  by  the  Illanaons,  but  in  the  watery  streets  of 
the  town  below,  and  on  the  river,  war-prahus  from  the 


410  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Sarebas  and  Sakarran  could  be  discerned,  crowded  with 
the  semi-nude  freebooters  of  Shereef  Sahib.  Kajah 
Brooke  was  far  away  in  Sarawak,  unconscious  of  the 
peril  of  his  friends.  The  victims  were  taken  in  a  trap. 

With  one  accord,  Muda  Hassim,  Budrudeen,  and 
their  little  band  of  broth er-Pangerans  and  nakodahs, 
drew  their  krisses  and,  without  heeding  the  swarm  of 
murderous  enemies  following  them  from  the  disordered 
palace,  charged  headlong  upon  the  Illanaons  obstruct 
ing  their  way  down  the  slope  to  the  Sultan's  wharf. 
Their  desperate  hope  was,  to  reach  boats  by  which  they 
might  essay  an  escape  down  the  river,  with  a  chance 
for  some  of  them,  at  least,  to  gain  the  protection  of 
the  English  vessel.  Makota,  leading  on  a  swiftly  in 
creasing  horde  of  pursuers,  detected  this  purpose  at 
a  glance,  and,  when  his  destined  prey  were  fairly  at 
the  water's  edge,  surrounded  them  anew  with  his 
own  immediate  followers.  The  Bandhara  had  even  set 
foot  in  a  sampan,  when  half  a  score  of  the  assassins 
overtook  him,  and  plunged  their  krisses  into  his  heav 
ing  breast. 

Budrudeen,  fighting  like  a  lion,  and  wTounded  in 
many  places,  heard  the  death-cry  of  Muda  Hassim 
without  power  to  save.  Several  faithful  Pangerans  and 
nakodahs  had  fallen  around  him ;  rescue  could  come  from 
no  quarter :  longer  to  accept  the  heroic  sacrifice  of  this 
handful  of  gallant  friends  would  but  insure  their  slaugh 
ter  in  a  hopeless  cause.  For  a  moment  the  impetuous 
assaults  of  his  frenzied  defenders  had  opened  a  way 
through  the  foes  clustered  above  them  on  the  acclivity, 
and,  without  a  word  to  explain  his  purpose,  he  suddenly 
bounded  singly  into  this  gap  and  went  climbing  back 
ward  in  his  own  track,  as  though  to  regain  the  palace. 
So  quick  and  unexpected  was  the  movement,  that 
friend  and  enemy,  alike,  stood  transfixed  in  hesitation, 


A  SIGNET-RING  RETURNED.  411 

until,  by  a  sharp  turn  across*  the  face  of  the  ascent,  the 
fugitive  betrayed  his  intention. 

"He  flies  to  his  house  !"  shouted  Makota,  furious  at 
the  momentary  diversion  :  "After  him,  my  friends  I" 

The  savage  rabble,  without  discipline  or  organization, 
but  leaping  and  howling  like  so  many  wolves  towards 
any  given  point  where  the  scent  of  the  doomed  lay 
freshest,  took  up  the  pursuit  with  increased  ferocity  at 
this  incitement,  and  swarmed  up  the  hillside  to  inter 
cept  the  fleet  runner. 

But  in  the  surprise  momentarily  arresting  their  at 
tack,  Budrudeen  had  gained  a  start  enabling  him  to 
reach  the  hill  upon  which  stood  his  mansion,  before 
kris,  spear,  or  sumpitan  of  the  nearest  pursuer  was 
within  wounding  distance.  Another  moment  saw  him 
within  the  armed  stockade  of  his  last  refuge  ;  and,  with 
the  cries  of  the  Illanaons  ringing  in  his  ears,  a  bleeding, 
reeling  martyr  at  bay  in  his  own  house. 

Never  bold  to  attack  even  the  simplest  fortifications 
in  daylight,  or  by  land,  the  hordes  of  the  sea-robbers 
halted  at  some  little  distance  from  the  stockade,  through 
which  the  muzzles  of  a  number  of  small  brass  guns 
protruded.  The  hunted  Pangefan  knew  that  they 
must  soon  become  aware  of  what  he  had  himself  de 
tected  in  his  first,  despairing  glance,  that  the  fated 
house  was  deserted  by  all  who  should  have  remained 
for  their  master's  defence.  Martial  retainers,  and  slaves 
and  women— all  alike  had  fled  at  the  earliest,  quickly- 
spreading  rumor  of  the  strange,  wild  scene  in  the  im 
perial  surow  ; — all  save  one  woman,  and  a  Malay  boy 
who  would  not  leave  her. 

"Inda! — Japper  !"  exclaimed  Budrudeen,  recogniz 
ing  these  two,  as  they  fell  at  his  feet  with  protestations 
of  devotion  ;  "  why  have  you  waited  here  ?" 

"To  fight  for  you  ;  to  die  with  you  !"  was  the  quick 


412  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

reply  of  the  kneeling  Dyak  girl,  grasping  one  of  his 
hands  and  pressing  it  to  her  forehead. 

"This  must  not  be,  star  of  my  life,"  returned  the 
wounded  prince,  speaking  hurriedly  through  his  labored 
breathing.  "  Japper,  as  you  love  me,  I  charge  you  tc 
take  her  the  way  the  others  have  gone — into  the  hills— 
before  these  dogs  outside  have  grown  brave  enough  tc 
surround  us.  The  way  behind  the  house  is  yet  open,' 
he  continued,  moving  painfully  towards  a  window  look' 
ing  upon  the  mountains. 

"  Come  with  us,  Pangeran,"  entreated  the  boy. 

"  I  will  not  go,"  said  Inda,  quietly. 

"It  is  my  command,  beloved  of  my  soul!"  insistec 
Budrudeen,  with  a  passionate  wave  of  his  arms  ;  tumul 
tuous  cries  from  without  proclaiming  that  his  savagt 
hunters  were  discovering  that  his  stockade  was  un 
manned.  "A  moment— help  me  here,  Japper,"  IK 
added,  in  a  shrill  voice,  grasping  at  one  of  several  cask* 
ranged  near  a  wall,  and  rolling  it  to  the  center  of  the 
room.  "  Quick  ! — bring  another  hither  !" 

The  youth  mechanically  obeyed ;  Inda  looking  or 
unmoved ;  and  with  the  celerity  of  desperation  thcii 
master  beat  in  the  head  of  the  first  cask,  with  a  heavj 
sword  he  had  grasped  from  a  table,  and  poured  the 
gunpowder  from  it  around  the  second.  This  act  accom 
plished,  Budrudeen  tore  from  a  finger  of  his  right  hand 
the  signet-ring  that  had  been  used  so  treacherously  foi 
his  downfall,  and  thrust  it  into  Japper's  passive  grasp. 

"  When  it  is  night,  take  a  canoe  and  goto  the  English 
ship  at  Pulo  Combong — you  and  Inda,"  he  said,  vehem 
ently.  "  Tell  the  Tuans  of  the  ship  what  has  happened 
to-day,  and  beg  them  to  carry  you  with  the  tidings  to 
Kuchin.  Give  this  ring  to  the  Rajah  of  Sarawak,  and 
say  to  him  that  Budrudeen,  like  Muda  Hassim,  has 
died,  his  friend,  and  the  friend  of  his  Queen." 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.     413 

Weakened  as  he  was  by  exhaustion,  excitement  and 
wounds,  the  speaker  had  scarcely  panted  the  last  word, 
before,  with  a  swift  rush,  he  half-encircled  both  the  boy 
and  the  woman  in  either  arm,  and  was  forcing  them 
irresistibly  through  a  doorway  leading  to  the  veranda 
behind  the  house.  Japper  he  hurled  bodily  over  the 
railing  of  the  latter  into  the  jungle  beyond,  and  was 
gently,  but  resolutely,  releasing  himself  from  the 
frantic  hold  of  the  imploring  Inda,  when  an  outburst  of 
triumphant  yells  from  the  front  made  him  throw  off 
the  clinging  hands  as  though  they  had  been  a  child's, 
and  bound  back  into  the  building  with  a  last,  defiant 
cry.  In  an  instant  his  fire-kindling  besi-api  was  spark 
ling  over  the  powder ;  and  even  as  an  agonized  shriek 
sounded  at  his  elbow,  and  a  host  of  fierce,  yellow-faced 
barbarians  at  last  poured  in  through  the  door  and  case 
ments  in  front,  the  funeral  pyre  of  Budrudeen  and 
Inda  was  lighted  in  earthquake  and  thunder. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE. 

WHEN  Doctor  Hedland,  pausing  in  Kuchin,  on  his 
way  to  Singapore,  urgently  invited  the  Effingham 
family  to  visit  his  Dyak  village  before  their  depart 
ure  from  the  East  Indies,  he  was  simply  yielding  there 
in  to  the  sway  of  a  rapidly  augmenting  impulse  of 
propitiatory  kindness  for  the  whole  human  race.  It 
would  have  puzzled  himself  to  analyze  the  process  of 
the  change  in  his  disposition  as  a  social  being  since  the 
last  interview  with  Makota,  when  that  tortuous  barba- 


414  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

rian's  confession  of  his  deception  as  to  the  mias,  and 
final  relinquishment  of  all  farther  friendly  pretension, 
had  impelled  him  to  accept  the  first  opportunity  for  a 
reconciliation  with  Rajah  Brooke,  and  even  find  a  cer 
tain  contradictory  comfort  in  being  ostentatiously 
apologetic  to  representatives  of  a  nationality  for 
which  he  had  previously  entertained  the  most  intol 
erant  dislike.  This  first  extravagant  reaction  of  a 
naturally  domineering  spirit,  was  now  being  supple 
mented,  after  Medlani's  revelation,  by  a  kind  of 
indiscriminate  and  deprecating  good-will  for  all  man 
kind.  Profound  intellectual  humiliation  was  unques 
tionably  the  basis  of  the  change.  His  elaborate  and 
startling  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  human  species, 
deduced  from  a  supposedly  convincing  ethnological 
discovery,  and  maintained  to  the  last  extreme  oi 
supercilious  arrogance,  had  collapsed  pitiably  and 
utterly  under  the  punctures  of  a  few  local  facts 
which  any  ordinary  mind  might  have  traced,  or  sus 
pected,  long  ago.  This  was  enough  to  account  for  the 
really  ingenuous  naturalist's  first  rather  dazing  parox 
ysm  of  intellectual  self-contempt,  and  consequent  impa 
tience  of  any  farther  pretence  of  pride  with  his 
previously  somewhat  contemned  fellow-creatures;  but 
now,  in  his  latest  condition  of  positively  generous 
urbanity,  he  realized,  without  stopping  to  reason  why, 
that  if  he  was  immeasurably  a  meeker  man  than  before, 
there  had  come,  also,  with  the  humility,  a  curious,  an 
indescribable,  a  subtle  feeling  of  mental  and  spiritual 
disenthrallment,  so  luxuriously  pleasant  in  the  experi 
ence  as  to  surcharge  his  general  nature  with  the 
utmost  complacency  for  everybody. 

It  was  in  this  state  of  amiable  exaltation  that  the 
Doctor  said  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Efnngham :  "You  and 
your  family  must  surely  be  my  guests,  for  one  night 


UNWONTED  QUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.      415 

at  least,  in  Pa  Jenna's  village,  before  you  leave  Borneo. 
Having  been  courageous  enough  to  come  as  a  household 
to  a  savage  spot  of  the  world  so  little  known,  the  ladies 
are  in  duty  bound  not  to  miss  seeing  how  the  Borneon 
aborigines  live  in  mid-air.  The  distance  from  here  is 
insignificant ;  our  villagers  have  attained  sufficient  civ 
ilization  in  manners  and  dress  to  be  not  impracticable 
neighbors  for  a  short  time  ;  and  my  own  semi-detached 
house  is  so  exceptionally  arranged,  with  easy  ladders 
from  story  to  story,  that  ladies  may  ascend  to  the  village 
without  difficulty.  I  can  appropriate  two  cottages,  in 
the  vicinity  of  my  own,  to  your  exclusive  use  ;  putting 
a  bamboo  railing  across  the  public  veranda  on  either 
side  of  them  to  assure  your  greater  privacy.  It  may 
be  well  for  you  to  bring  your  cook,  and  two  or  three 
other  servants,  as  my  Dyaks  are  but  barbarous  table- 
livers  yet.  That  you  can  easily  do,  and,  with  such 
attendance,  you  need  undergo  no  particular  hardships." 

Mr.  Effingham,  having  already  been  a  visitor  to  the 
lofty  human  nest  thus  commended,  and  remembering 
the  decorous  orderliness  of  its  every  aspect,  saw  no 
strong  reason  why  he  should  not  accept,  for  his  so  soon 
emigrating  family -party,  this  hospitable  invitation  to  the 
most  interesting  of  parting  calls.  Dr.  Hedland's  wholly 
unexpected  and  peculiar  courtesy  in  the  matter  was 
characteristic  of  the  oddest  of  mortals  ;  but  as  it  was 
obviously  proffered  in  perfect  good  faith,  and  afforded 
the  ladies  a  chance  to  enjoy  a  rarely  picturesque  specta 
cle,  never  before  looked  upon  by  civilized  members  of 
their  sex,  the  indulgent  husband  and  father  promptly 
decided  to  avail  himself  of  it. 

"  The  temptation  is  too  great  to  be  resisted,  Doctor," 
he  replied,  after  but  brief  deliberation,  "and  we  shall 
be  most  happy  to  try  the  adventure  suggested  by  your 
kindness  as  our  final  experience  of  Borneo.  Perhaps, 


416  THEEE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

as  I  am  informed  that  you  think  of  leaving  the  island 
very  soon  yourself,  we  might  induce  you  to  accept  pas 
sage  with  us  in  our  brig  to  Singapore  ?" 

"Kindly  thought  of,  Mr.  Effingham :  it  would  be 
vastly  agreeable  for  me  to  accede  to  that  idea  at  once  ; 
but  the  exploration  of  a  mountain  cave  in  my  neighbor 
hood,  that  I  have  been  lately  induced  to  undertake, 
may  make  the  time  of  my  departure  quite  uncertain.  I 
thank  you,  however,  for  your  very  polite  intention,  and 
also  for  your  acceptance  of  my  own  invitation.  Mrs. 
Effingham,  I  shall  really  deem  it  an  enviable  honor  to 
be  the  first  European  welcoming  ladies  to  a  genuine 
Dyak  village  of  Borneo." 

Thus,  while  the  unique  adventure  was  decided  upon, 
the  exact  date  for  its  accomplishment  went  undesig- 
nated ;  and  this  was  eminently  characteristic  of  an 
exotic  manner  of  life  in  which  both  parties  to  the 
friendly  engagement  had  unconsciously  lost  all  meth 
odical  habit  of  taking  account  of  time. 

Several  weeks  elapsed  before  Mr.  Effingham 's  affairs 
in  Kuchin  were  so  conclusively  ordered  that  he  felt  jus 
tified  in  having  the  brig  Weltevreden  made  ready  for 
Singapore.  Then,  as  the  vessel  was  too  large  to  go  all 
the  way  to  the  village,  and,  if  employed,  would  neces 
sitate  a  supplementary  transportation  of  the  visitors  in 
small  boats,  he  determined  to  engage  for  the  latter  trip, 
instead,  a  fine  trading-prahu  from  Celebes,  at  that  time 
awaiting  a  cargo  in  the  river. 

Embarked  for  the  excursion  on  this  rude,  but  thor 
oughly  stanch  and  indolently  comfortable  craft,  the 
family  were  accompanied  by  Berner,  Ambrose,  the  Chi 
nese  cook  and  a  lower  servant  of  the  same  nationality. 
In  due  observance  of  the  warning  as  to  Dyak  barbarism 
of  fare,  various  suitable  appointments  and  provisions 
for  kitchen  and  table  were  likewise  carried,  and  Mr. 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.     417 

Effingham  bore  with  him  a  fowling-piece  for  the  benefit 
of  such  game  as  might  prove  incidental  to  the  trip.  At 
the  bow  of  the  prahu  a  brass  swivel  gun  was  mounted, 
and  two  small  iron  carronades  stood  on  either  side  of  the 
deck  ;  but  these  were  only  the  common  armament  of  any 
Archipelago  coaster.  Not  a  dream  could  there  be  of 
peril  for  peaceful  voyagers  in  the  Sarawak  valley  of 
these  days ;  so  absolutely  established  was  the  authority 
of  the  great  Kajah,  and  so  thoroughly  had  it  overawed 
all  exterior  marauders  from  venturing  into  a  river  once 
haunted  by  their  piratical  fleets. 

Under  the  broad,  peaked  awning  of  plaited  rattan, 
upon  ship-chairs  from  the  Weltevreden,  sat  husband  and 
wife,  daughter  and  Cousin  Sadie ;  the  ladies  in  brown 
linen  dresses  and  hats  of  straw,  suitable  to  the  climate 
and  occasion  ;  the  gentleman  in  the  same  half-soldierly, 
half  miner-like  costume  he  had  worn  on  his  Simunjon 
expedition.  At  the  bow,  Berner,  Ambrose  and  their 
subordinates  watched  the  hoisting  of  the  large,  tri 
angular  sail  of  the  prahu  ;  Master  Cherubino  standing 
near  them,  with  arms  akimbo,  staring  at  the  bronzed 
Bugis  captain  with  an  intensity  calculated  to  make  even 
that  rude  mariner  miserably  conscious  of  any  aspect  of 
his  person  or  dress  that  might  conceivably  challenge 
unfavorable  criticism. 

"There  is  a  ship  of  war  coming  in,"  remarked  the 
American  merchant,  indicating  a  point  of  view  down 
the  river,  some  distance  beyond  the  Rajah's  wharf, 
where  a  full-rigged  vessel  could  be  discerned  approach 
ing.  "  I  heard  at  '  The  Grove '  that  a  frigate  and  gun 
boat  might  be  here  from  Singapore  to-night ;  but  this  is 
probably  an  unexpected  arrival." 

ult  is  hard  to  realize  that  we,  ourselves,  shall  be  so 
soon  starting  down  this  river  for  our  old,  outer  world 
again,"  said  his  wife,  looking  with  more  interest  at  their 


418  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

own  brig,  anchored  not  far  away.  "The  months  we 
have  passed  here  seem  longer  when  looked  back  upon 
than  they  did  in  being  lived.  Shall  we  remain  long  at 
Singapore,  Richard  ?" 

"  Probably  not  over  two  days,  my  dear.  After  I  have 
finished  my  business  with  Mr.  Dodge  we  may  go  at 
once  on  board  the  Comanche.  Our  life  here  has  been 
quite  an  ideal  one;  but  is  such  an  existence  living, 
after  all  ?  We  are  out  of  the  human  life  of  the  civil 
ized  world,  and  do  not  enter  into  that  of  the  native 
barbarism  here.  It  is  a  comparatively  passive  tran- 
sitionary  condition  for  us,  and  will  appear  to  all  like  a 
dream  when  it  shall  be  over." 

But,  as  the  desultory  conversation  of  the  short  jour 
ney  now  beginning  was  not  essential  to  the  elucidation 
of  our  story,  and  the  general  character  of  Sarawak  river- 
scenery  has  been  sufficiently  exhibited  in  earlier  chap 
ters,  they  need  not  be  repeated  nor  dwelt  upon  here. 

The  half-day's  voyage  was  a  tranquil,  languorous 
gliding  on  through  that  historical  valley,  the  shadows 
of  whose  flanking  chains  of  forest-clad  hills  met  under 
the  prahu  and  gave  an  almost  black  relief  to  the  snowy 
ripple  of  the  prow.  No  other  hues  met  the  sight,  on 
either  side,  than  the  varying  emeralds  of  an  eternity  of 
Tropical  foliage ;  from  the  opaque  low  growths  with 
unknown  mountain  depths  behind  them,  to  the  trans 
parent  and  delicately  dwarfed  leafage  of  the  high,  re 
tiring  crests  against  the  untinted  sky.  Flowers  bloomed 
not  visibly  on  bank  nor  in  palm-openings  ;  no  flutter  of 
bird's  wing  lightened  the  afternoon  dusk  of  the  jungled 
shore's  unbroken  embowerment ;  and  yet,  between  the 
dun  and  yellow  tinges  of  the  noiseless  prahu  itself,  the 
soft,  bluish  darkness  of  the  stream,  the  graded  ver 
dures  of  the  hills,  and  the  dull  red  of  a  sun  bound  ray- 
less  in  a  firmament  of  pearly  vapor,  there  was  a  Senti- 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.      419 

ment,  as  it  were,  of  sensuous  color,  to  which  an  artistic 
ideal  of  any  inner  Sunland  would  have  added  neither 
glow  of  rose  nor  gleam  of  water-lily. 

At  Leda  Tanah  both  sail  and  mast  were  lowered, 
and  long  oars  plashed  in  the  tide,  as  the  prahu  turned 
into  the  left  branch  of  the  river  there,  and  entered  the 
narrowing  archway  of  Nypas  leading  to  the  village.  In 
the  cool,  green  dimness  of  the  pillared  shade  now  so 
closely  about  them,  the  voyagers  began  to  see  strange 
birds  among  the  boughs,  and  an  occasional  gaunt  Dyak 
dog,  and  even  wild  hogs,  in  the  waterside  jungle  ;  the 
delight  of  the  small-boy  of  the  party  at  view  of  the  half- 
starved  canine  mongrels  being  expressed  in  such  saluta 
tory  irrepressible  whistles,  as  are  the  eternal  delusion  and 
despair  of  creatures  of  their  credulous  species,  in  lands 
where  masculine  immaturity  is  refined  to  the  last  in 
genuity  of  embittering  their  natural  trustfulness  into 
ultimate  hydrophobic  frenzy  at  the  very  sight  of  a  lad's 
toothsome  leg. 

"When  the  boat,  in  its  now  slow  progress,  had  arrived 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  point  where  it  should 
emerge  below  the  village,  Doctor  Hedland  and  an 
other  European  figure  were  seen,  apparently  in  waiting, 
upon  a  place  on  the  bank  where  the  latter  sloped 
gradually  to  the  tide  and  presented  an  opening  between 
the  trees. 

"Welcome,  at  last,  to  you  all !"  shouted  the  natural 
ist,  heartily  ;  at  the  same  time  making  a  motion  for  the 
prahu  to  stop 'there.  His  companion,  lifting  his  hat 
and  bowing,  was  discovered  to  be  Colonel  Daryl. 

The  mooring  occupied  so  little  time,  that  some  of  the 
visitors  had  scarcely  recovered  from  their  first  surprise 
at  recognizing  the  Doctor's  companion  when  the  latter 
and  their  host  climbed  on  board  and  offered  their  con 
gratulations. 


420  THEEE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

u  We  selected  this  for  your  landing-place,  ladies,"  ex 
plained  Hedland,  whose  whole  manner  was  fairly  bouy- 
ant ;  "  because  the  one  with  which  Mr.  Effingham  is 
familiar,  has — as  he  probably  remembers — a  bluff  to  be 
scaled  by  ladders  before  you  are  even  at  the  foot  of  our 
tall  village.  You  must  be  resigned  to  a  little  hard 
uphill  walking,  as  it  will  save  you  all  ladder-climbing 
except  what  I  trust  you  will  find  not  very  difficult." 

"  It  must  appear  to  you,  Mrs.  Effingham,  that  you  are 
never  to  see  the  last  of  me,"  remarked  the  Colonel  to 
that  lady,  in  a  half  laughing,  half  apologetic  way. 

"  The  pleasure  of  meeting  you  here,  sir,  was  certainly 
unexpected  by  us,"  she  replied,  not  seeming  to  notice, 
or,  at  any  rate,  not  imitating,  the  cold  reserve  with 
which  her  daughter  had  received  his  greeting. 

"  I  am  here  upon  peremptory  personal  summons  of 
our  friend,  Hedland,"  continued  the  Colonel,  "who 
thinks  that  he  has  actually  discovered,  in  the  most  curi 
ous  manner,  a  clue  to  the  fate  of  that  unfortunate  being 
in  whose  profitless  pursuit  I  have  passed  so  much  time 
in  Borneo." 

"And  he  is  yet  a  skeptic  on  that  point,  madame," 
struck  in  the  Doctor,  overhearing  the  conversation. 
"  "Wait  until  to-morrow  evening,  after  we  have  made  a 
little  excursion  together,  and  then  hear  what  he  may 
have  to  say !" 

Only  so  much  explanation  of  Daryl's  presence  was 
practicable  before  the  business  of  landing  the  party 
monopolized  all  attention.  It  was  found  that  the  mov 
able  prahu  ladders  leading  from  the  deck  to  the  hold, 
would  reach  easily,  and  at  a  convenient  angle,  from  the 
deck  to  the  shore  ;  consequently  no  very  awkward  inci 
dent  attended  the  disembarkation.  With  assistance 
from  the  gentlemen,  rather  formal  than  actually  neces 
sary,  the  ladies  descended  in  the  undemonstrative  style 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.      421 

of  experienced  travelers.  Then  their  host,  with  Mrs. 
Effingham  under  his  special  care  ;  the  Colonel,  calmly 
stepping  into  the  position  of  escort  to  the  obviously  re 
luctant  Abretta ;  Mr.  Effingham  lending  an  arm  to  Miss 
Ankeroo,  and  Cherubino  following  with  the  servants  ; 
formed  a  little  procession  to  accomplish  the  short  re 
maining  journey. 

The  course  of  the  latter  was  nearly  parallel  with  the 
water,  though  in  gradual  ascent  of  the  hillside  across 
which  it  ran.  A  path,  cut  through  the  jungle  for  the 
purpose,  led  between  the  green  walls  of  a  slightly  undu- 
latory  Tropical  hedge,  as  it  could  be  called,  from  the 
moorage  of  the  prahu  to  a  level  with  the  piled  founda 
tion  of  the  village,  and  the  fairer  members  of  the  party 
had  no  more  difficulty  in  treading  it  than  if  their  walk  had 
been  a  leisurely  ramble  between  bushes  and  under  trees 
on  the  sloping  riverside  grounds  of  a  Christian  estate. 
That  there  should  be  no  annoyance  from  popular  curi 
osity,  the  considerate  naturalist  had  requested  Pa  Jenna 
to  keep  all  his  Dyaks  strictly  out  of  sight  during  the 
brief  overland  passage  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  even  the 
somewhat  disappointed  Cherub  beheld  no  savage  human 
reminder  of  the  absence  of  civilization. 

Nevertheless,  strangeness  enough  there  was  in  the  ex 
perience  to  repress  feminine  personality  of  conversation, 
until,  after  a  naturally  wondering  view  of  the  iron-wood 
colonnade  uprearing  the  community  of  their  destina 
tion,  the  adventurous  guests  duly  scaled  the  interval 
of  laddered  storeys  in  Doctor  Hedland's  house,  and 
emerged,  rather  tired,  through  the  trap  in  the  topmost 
floor. 

"  Once  more,  welcome,  my  friends,"  said  the  Doctor, 
when,  at  last,  they  all  stood  safely  in  the  room  memor 
able  for  the  lecture  on  Oshonsee.  Mr.  Effingham  glanced 
about  him  in  search  of  the  famous  ape  ;  and  Cherubino, 


422  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

bold  with  t*he  engaging  unreserve  of  his  tender  years, 
made  prompt  inquiry  : 

"  If  you  please,  sir,  where 's  the  monkey  that  you  say 
is  like  Father  and  me  and  other  men  ?" 

Before  the  parental  impulse  to  rebuke  this  infantile 
presumption  could  find  words  to  express  itself,  Hedland 
made  answer  with  noticeable  alacrity— as  though  rather 
gratified  at  the  opportunity  : 

"To  be  sure,  my  young  friend — where  is  he  ?  Such 
curiosity  is  very  natural.  Just  now  the  object  of  your 
inquiry  is  rusticating  in  a  new  retreat  of  mine  amongst 
the  hills,  a  little  further  up  the  river ;  but  Colonel 
Daryl  and  I  may  bring  him  back  with  us  from  our  ex 
cursion  to-morrow." 

Although  ostensibly  addressed  to  the  inquisitive 
youth,  this  explanation  of  a  notable  absence  was  plainly 
intended  for  the  timely  information  of  all  who  might 
feel  an  interest  in  the  matter. 

"And  now,  if  you  please,"  continued  the  smiling 
Doctor,  making  the  invitation  general,  "we  will  see 
how  you  ladies  can  walk  a  Dyak  bridge.  You  must  see 
what  kind  of  houses  I  have  obtained  for  you." 

As  before  described,  the  "batang,"  or  bridge,  con 
necting  this  house  with  the  great  common  gallery,  or 
open  veranda,  of  the  village,  was  shaped  liked  an 
inverted  triangle,  a  single  bamboo  pole  giving  the  foot 
ing,  whence  rattan  lashings  slanted  up  on  either  side  to 
a  handrail  of  the  same  gigantic  reed.  Over  this  sway 
ing  structure,  as  it  was  not  long,  the  ladies  followed 
their  masculine  conductors  without  serious  disturbance 
of  nerve ;  and  were  introduced  upon  the  veranda  to 
Pa  Jenna,  who,  with  a  select  company  of  the  elders  of 
the  village,  male  and  female,  had  there  waited  to  offer 
homage  and  hospital  professions  to  their  beloved 
Tuan's  marvelous  friends. 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.     423 

Thus  was  inducted  to  a  Dyak  eyrie  the  first  Christian 
family  ever  penetrating  into  the  Dyak  country  south 
ward  of  Bruni.*  It  is  unnecessary  to  dilate  again  upon 
the  remarkable  spectacle  of  the  village-street  in  mid-air ; 
with  tree-tops  to  be  touched  from  the  bamboo  railings 
in  front,  and  the  hill  summit,  jungled  and  palmed, 
rising  protectively  behind.  In  prospect  of  such  un 
wonted  visitors  the  whole  half-civilized  community  had 
been  disciplined  into  an  at  least  temporary  system  of 
manners  and  dress  with  which  the  most  sensitive 
strangers  from  Christendom  could  not  reasonably  have 
found  fault.  In  making  a  round  of  the  village  with 
their  host,  his  friend,  the  Orang-Kaya,  and  the  native 
elders  before  mentioned,  our  Americans  were  able  to 
study  the  simple  domestic  genius  of  the  place,  as  well 
as  its  public  curiosities  (excepting,  of  course,  the  in 
terior  of  the  "  head-house  ")  without  being  either  dogged 
or  stared  at  by  the  usual  popular  following  of  visiting 
Christians  in  barbarous  settlements. 

Returning  finally  to  the  two  houses  assigned  for 
their  occupancy;  both  of  them  at  Dr.  Hedland's  corner 
of  the  mighty  veranda  and  made  as  commodious  as 
was  practicable  by  generous  appropriation  of  nearly  all 
the  Doctor's  own  furniture  in  addition  to  that  brought 
by  the  prahu;  the  party  found  the  promised  social 
privacy  in  temporary  partitions  of  bamboo  rails  and 
mats  across  the  public  way  on  either  side  of  their 
quarters.  An  inspiration  more  than  masculine 
seemed  to  have  guided  their  benignantly  transformed 
host  in  his  preparations  for  the  utmost  domiciliary 
comfort  to  be  evoked  in  such  an  unaccustomed  place  for 
the  gentler  natures  of  earth ;  and  even  Miss  Ankeroo 


*  The  families  of  an  American  and  an  English  missionary  had  pre 
viously  lived  for  a  short  time  in  the  suburbs  of  Bruni. 


424  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

forgot,  momentarily,  his  biological  audacities,  in  con 
templating  the  many  obvious  signs  of  his  hospitable 
forethought. 

While  the  Chinese  cook,  with  the  inimitable  adapta- 
tiveness  of  his  ingenious  race,  was  doing  wonders 
towards  the  composition  of  a  dinner  at  one  of  the  open- 
air  fireplaces ;  and  Berner  and  Ambrose  systematized 
the  distribution  of  things  indoors  for  the  night ;  Mrs. 
Effingham  and  her  daughter  and  cousin,  seated 
on  ship's  chairs  near  the  veranda  railing,  enjoyed 
the  novel  prospect  below  and  around  them,  and 
gradually  lapsed  from  discussion  of  Dyak  architecture 
and  character  into  the  nearer  interests  and  person 
alities  of  ordinary  talk. 

" — And  the  most  surprising  thing  to  me  in  this  surpris 
ing  place,"  said  Mrs.  Emngham  to  the  Doctor,  "is  to 
hear  what  Colonel  Daryl  has  told  me  of  the  occasion  for 
his  sudden  presence  here  with  you.  Are  you  really 
confident,  Doctor  Hedland,  of  being  able  to  trace  the 
history  of  the  long-missing  man  after  his  escape  from 
Batavia  to  this  island  ?" 

u  I  have  traced  so  much,  madame — so  very  much," 
returned  he,  with  emphatic  earnestness,  "  that  my  own 
astonishment  at  it  grows,  I  may  say,  with  every  hour !" 

With  a  look  inviting  the  adjacent  Miss  Ankeroo  and 
Mr.  Efnngharn  to  draw  their  chairs  nearer  and  heed, 
also,  what  he  should  say,  the  naturalist  bent  nearer 
toward  all  three,  from  his  own  chair,  and  lowered  his 
voice : — 

"Daryl  himself  does  not  know  all  yet;  for  I  have 
made  my  greatest  confirmative  discovery  ;  and  that  at 
no  considerable  distance  from  this  very  spot ;  since  re 
turning  from  Singapore.  It  is  to  reveal  this  to  him, 
with  the  assistance  of  peculiar  local  proof,  that  I  have 
engaged  him  to  go  with  me,  unquestioningly,  to-morrow. 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.      425 

on  the  excursion  I  mentioned  to  you,  Madame,  this 
afternoon.  The  engagement  was  made,  Mr.  Effingham, 
before  the  coming  of  your  note  by  canoe  this  morning, 
saying  that  you  would  be  here  to-day." 

"Our  presence  must  not  for  a  moment  deter  you 
from  keeping  such  an  appointment  to  the  hour,"  said 
that  gentleman,  with  courteous  promptness  ;  "otherwise 
I  shall  not  excuse  myself  for  deferring  until  so  late  to 
warn  you  of  our  advent.  It  was  my  hope  to  prevent 
any  too  liberal  pains  on  your  part  for  our  accommoda 
tion—we  being  all  old  travelers,  and  ready  to  take  new 
places  as  they  are  ; — but  I  see  that  you  have  fairly  revo 
lutionized  the  village  for  us,  after  all." 

"  Don't  mention  it,  my  good  sir.  There  is  no  limit 
to  my  inclination  of  good-will  toward  yourself  and  the 
ladies,"  responded  Doctor  Hedland,  with  surprising 
fervor  of  tone  and  manner. — "And  I  must  avail  myself 
of  your  own  and  your  family's  considerate  indulgence 
for  a  few  hours  to-morrow,  indeed.  You  will,  and 
ought  to,  think  me  a  rude  host  for  so  doing  ;  and  Daryl 
himself  is  not  likely  to  accede  altogether  graciously  to 
what  I  can  see  that  he  is  half  disposed  to  regard  as 
pursuant  of  another  visionary  delusion  on  my  part.  But 
wait  until  we  have  come  back  to  you  in  a  few  hours, 
my  friends,  and  then  we  shall  find  out  whether  you  yet 
judge  my  discourtesy  to  have  been  gratuitous,  and  he 
holds  me  yet  to  be  a  harebrained  hunter  of  wild  geese!" 

The  suppressed  exultation  of  the  speaker  had  a  con 
tagious  effect  upon  his  auditors,  in  stimulating  them 
with  an  expectation  no  less  lively  because  widely  in 
definite.  Making  every  allowance  for  the  philosopher's 
supposed  tendency  to  be  very  positive  in  his  deductions 
of  mountainous  theory  from  molehill  fact,  it  was  yet 
the  intuition  of  his  present  observers  that  he  was  now 
under  the  inspiration  of  a  conviction  practically  sub- 


426  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

stantiated.  Evidently  he  had  made  a  discovery  rela 
tive  to  the  Daryl  family  mystery  of  sufficient  import 
ance  to  revivify  the  Colonel's  exhausted  interest  in  that 
previously  hopeless  problem ;  but  the  question  re 
mained  :  what  had  he  yet  of  that  discovery  in  reserve, 
even  from  the  Colonel  himself,  to  yield  any  more  ma 
terial  fruition  than  the  mere  delight  of  his  own  mind, 
in  being  able  to  trace  the  erratic  steps  of  a  fugitive 
madman  some  distance  further  than  any  one  else  could 
do  ? 

"We  are  not  to  be  persuaded  into  a  question  of 
your  courtesy,  whatever  may  be  the  temporary  philo 
sophical  skepticism  of  your  friend,"  Mr.  Effingham 
said,  smilingly  ;  "  and  whatsoever  gratifying  revelation 
you  and  the  Colonel  may  have  for  our  sympathetic  cu 
riosity  to-morrow  evening,  need  be  burdened  with  no 
apologetic  property  so  far  as  your  guests  are  concerned. 
Shall  I  seem  too  inquisitive  if  I  ask,  whether  the  discov 
ery  you  have  made  is  likely  to  be  of  practical  benefit  to 
Colonel  Daryl  ?" 

"  The  man  can't  be  alive  yet,  of  course,"  interrupted 
Miss  Ankeroo,  half  question ingly, 

"No,  he  has  been  dead  for  years, "  the  Doctor  replied, 
to  the  lady  first. 

"You  ask  no  more,  sir,  than  I  should  be  happy  to 
tell  you  freely,  and  at  once,"  he  continued,  addressing 
the  merchant,  "  were  I  certain  on  that  point  myself. 
Daryl,  only,  can  decide  that,  when  he  shall  have  seen 
what  I  hope  to  show  him  to-morrow  ;  and  it  is  because 
of  the  bare  possibility  of  my  latest  discovery  not  turn 
ing  out  to  be  quite  all  that  I  am  at  least  morally  san 
guine  it  must  be,  that  I  do  not  at  once  inform  him  and 
you  of  its  apparent  nature.  Were  I  as  positive  about 
any  earthly  thing  now,  as  I  was  about  everything  in 
the  whole  universe  a  few  months  ago,  you  would  not 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.     427 

find  me  figuring  thus  in  what  I  know  must  appear  like  a 
bit  of  mawkish  theatrical  mystification." 

"  Don't  discredit  yourself  in  that  shockingly  prosaic 
way,  Doctor  Hedland,"  remarked  Mrs.  Effingham, 
lightly.  "A  little  romantic  mystery  was  the  one 
thing  needed  to  make  our  adventure  in  this  most  pic 
turesque  of  villages  poetically  perfect.  Keep  the  charm 
unbroken  for  us  while  you  can." 

The  mother  might  feel  herself  thus  luxuriously  sat 
isfied  with  the  immediate  situation  of  affairs,  but  it 
was  not  so  with  the  daughter.  If  Abretta's  wholesome, 
elastic  young  nature  could  never  again  be  as  completely 
subjective  to  parental  dictation  of  sentiment  and  feeling 
as  before,  it  had  bravely  thrown  off  the  depression  conse 
quent  upon  its  first  experience  of  independent  action; 
and  the  offended  surprise  with  which  the  girl  beheld  the 
so  early  reappearance  of  Colonel  Daryl  in  her  particular 
world,  had  no  morbid  quality  of  romantic  injury  about 
it.  She  was  indignant  that  this  uncongenial,  overbear 
ing  Englishman,  who  had  repaid  all  their  spontaneous 
and  generous  courtesy  to  his  nephew  and  himself  with 
a  coldly  calculating  invidiousness  of  interpretation  al 
most  insulting,  should  presume,  in  this  abrupt  way,  to 
renew  the  association  with  her  family,  even  though 
unforeseen  chance  compelled  them  temporarily  to  be 
neighbors.  His  unruffled  manner  of  greeting  them  all, 
this  afternoon,  as  though  his  peculiar  farewell  to  her 
invincibly  amiable  mother  had  never  taken  place,  ap 
peared  to  Abretta  the  last  extreme  of  arrogant  British 
assumption,  and  his  special  condescension  to  herself 
made  her  every  nerve  tingle  with  silent  resentment. 

The  Colonel  easily  read  this  feeling  in  the  sparkling 
and  dilated  black  eyes,  the  lofty  carriage,  and  con 
strained  taciturnity  of  his  beautiful  usurped  charge, 
and  was  provokingly  tranquil  in  a  pretence  of  deferring 


428  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

indulgently  to  what  might  be  construed  as  merely  a 
passing  mood  of  youthful  caprice.  His  own  deep-set 
greyish-blue  eyes  twinkled  slightly  with  occasional 
covert  amusement  at  her  studiously  monosyllabic  re 
plies  to  his  casual  remarks  and  explanations  while  the 
walk  to  and  through  the  village  was  in  progress  ;  yet, 
after  all,  the  reigning  expression  of  his  countenance 
was  kind,  and  even  singularly  gentle.  Like  his  old 
friend,  he  seemed  to  be  exceptionally  subdued  and 
brightly  genialized  by  some  gracious  local  spell. 

"Doctor  Hedland  shows  no  sign  yet  of  inviting 
you  and  me  to  share  the  confidences  of  his  select  little 
party,"  the  Colonel  remarked,  with  a  glance  towards 
the  group,  some  twenty  feet  distant,  a  portion  of  whose 
conversation  has  been  quoted. 

Without  seeming  purpose  he  had  commended  his  cap 
tive  to  a  chair  rather  out  of  speaking  reach  of  her  kin 
dred  and  his  friend,  though  in  line  with  them  near  the 
verge  of  the  veranda  ;  and  stood  beside  it,  leaning  back 
ward  against  the  bamboo  railing,  in  an  attitude  of  easy 
colloquial  accommodation.  She  had  acknowledged  his 
last  observation  by  a  momentary  wistful  look  in  the 
direction  indicated  and  the  slightest  perceptible  nod  of 
resigned  assent— and  he  went  on  : 

"  You  have  understood,  I  presume,  Miss  Effingham, 
that  I  am  here  upon  the  sudden  call  of  my  oldest  living 
friend,  who,  without  a  dream  of  seeking  it,  has  recov 
ered—or  so  believes,  at  least, — our  lost  clue  to  the  fate 
of  the  man  who  so  long  ago  robbed  my  nephew  and 
myself  of  our  birthright  ?" 

His  eyes  were  upon  her  intently  when  he  mentioned  his 
nephew ;  and  her  own  met  them  at  the  name  with  a  calm 
clearness  of  expression  that  would  have  been  the  perfec 
tion  of  indifference  but  for  the  accompanying  effortful  de 
fiance  of  delicately  pulsing  nostrils  and  constrained  lips. 


UNWONTED  aUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.     429 

"Yes,  Colonel  Daryl."  were  her  words  of  reply  to 
his  implied  question  ;  although  but  the  vaguest  idea  of 
the  Doctor's  reason  for  having  such  company  to  meet 
her  parents  and  herself  had  hitherto  found  apprehen 
sion  in  her  fluttered  thoughts. 

"I  came  in  great  haste  from  Singapore;  only  two 
days  later  than  the  Doctor  himself ;  and,  being  pressed 
for  time,  did  not  go  ashore  at  Kuchin.  Otherwise  you 
would  have  had  warning  of  my  presence  here ;"  and 
he  smiled  as  he  said  it.  "All  the  nicer  formalities  of 
etiquette,  however,  must  often  be  foregone  in  this  rude 
part  of  the  world,  or  I  might  feel  it  obligatory  upon 
myself  to  apologize  for  circumstances  imposing  so  much 
of  my  society  upon  a  young  lady  whose  favorable  regard 
I  seem,  unfortunately,  to  have  forfeited." 

This  would  have  been  cruel,  from  a  man  of  his  years 
to  such  a  childlike  creature,  but  for  the  tone  of  almost 
fatherly  remonstrance  in  which  it  was  spoken. 

"Please  do  not  be  critical  with  my  want  of  tact," 
said  poor  Abretta,  nearly  breaking  down  at  the  unex 
pected  challenge  to  defend  her  attitude  of  patriotic — 
was  that  it? — hostility.  "Mamma  astonishes  me  by 
the  way  in  which  she  seems  to  take  it  for  granted  that 
you  wish  to  talk  with  nobody  but  myself !  Please  do 
not  allow  me  to  detain  you  another  moment.  With 
such  a  wonderful  scene  as  this  to  look  upon,  I  require 
no  attention  whatever,  sir,  I  assure  you." 

Between  embarrassment  at  what  she  felt  to  be  a  kind 
of  persecution  inexplicably  condoned  by  her  own 
mother,  and  a  sense  of  humiliation  in  being  compelled 
thus  to  deprecate  criticism  of  her  ungraciousness  to  a 
gentleman  of  the  Colonel's  age  and  dignity,  the  inno 
cent  girl  realized  that  she  had  not  the  worldly  experi 
ence,  yet,  to  play  a  haughty  part  with  success. 

My  dear  Miss  Effingham,"  the  Colonel  retorted, 


u 


430  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

gravely  earnest,  though  without  apparent  cognizance 
of  her  temporary  agitation,  "  if  I  lacked  the  good  taste 
to  appreciate  you  for  your  own  sake,  the  fact  that  you 
are  daughter  to  a  lady  whom  I  respect  and  admire 
beyond  expression,  would  make  it  an  honor  and  a  pleas 
ure  for  me  to  render  you  any  attention  in  my  power." 

"Mamma  is  good  to  everybody." — A  safe  filial  tru 
ism,  and  nothing  more. 

"And  would  never  be  otherwise.  Her  unmeasured 
kindness  to  my  orphan  boy ;  he  coming  to  her  as  a 
passing  stranger  ;  the  peculiarly  delicate  consideration 
shown  for  his  youthful  freedom  and  inexperience  by 
every  one  in  your  Borneon  home,  Miss  Effingham  has 
made  me,  no  less  than  my  nephew,  a  grateful  debtor  for 
life.  Edwin  should  be  in  Kuchin  this  very  night.  His 
ship  had  reached  Singapore,  from  Chinese  waters,  be 
fore  I  came  away,  and  was  to  cruise  as  far  as  Sarawak 
immediately.  I  could  almost  regret  that  he  is  not  here 
with  us." 

Edwin's  Uncle  was  skating  on  very  thin  ice  in  this 
kind  of  talk ;  and  to  what  end  he  did  not,  perhaps, 
realize^  himself. 

"  Will  Doctor  Hedland's  discovery  be  of  any  value 
to  Mr.  Belmore  ?"  asked  Abretta,  boldly  meeting  the 
unwary  turn  of  the  subject,  and  giving  it  a  generally 
practical  direction. 

"  So  far  as  the  Doctor  has  chosen  to  impart  the  ex 
tent  of  that  discovery  to  me,  I  infer  that  it  will  only 
carry  our  desultory  search  for  footprints  of  the  Sam 
bas  fugitive  one  stage  further  on.  It  is  not  Doctor 
Hedland's  natural  manner  to  practice  mystification  in 
anything  ;  and  from  his  seeming  resort  to  it  with  my 
self,  in  refusing  to  be  more  explicit  as  to  what  he  thiriks 
he  has  found  out,  until  I  shall  have  made  to-morrow's 
excursion  with  him,  I  suspect  that  he  is  far  from  con- 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.      431 

fident  of  its  ultimate  tendency  to  any  practical  result. 
He  has  certainly  ascertained  that  poor,  mad  Kuadh 
went  from  Sambas  up  the  Simpang-Kira  river,  skirting 
around  the  southeastern  boundary  of  this  province  of 
Sarawak,  to  the  Sadong  and  Simunjon  country  north 
east  from  here.  The  circumstantial  evidence  on  this 
point,  though  curiously  obtained,  appears  to  be  suffi 
cient.  But  I  fancy  that  my  friend  now  has  a  theory  of 
Ruadh's  presence  in  Sarawak  itself  at  some  period  of 
his  wretched  wanderings — possibly  in  the  very  moun 
tain  cave  whither  we  are  to  go  to-morrow — and  hopes 
that  I  may  be  able  to  recognize  some  justification  of  it 
in  what  imagined  signs  of  past  human  habitation  he 
may  persuade  me  to  join  with  him  in  detecting  among 
the  hills." 

"  Nothing  more  ?"  the  girl  asked;  obviously  disap 
pointed,  and,  therefore,  as  obviously,  taking  a  lively  in 
terest  in  the  subject. 

"What  more  could  there  be,  my  dear  young  lady  ? 
Nearly  two-fifths  of  a  century  have  passed  away  since 
the  maniac  from  the  Batavia  hospital  was  traced  to 
savage  Sambas,  and  there  totally  disappeared.  It  is 
now  discovered  that  he  penetrated  onward  into  the 
wilderness  of  the  orang-outan  and  the  wildest  of  the 
Dyaks.  As  he  was  seen  to  have  an  oilskin-wrapped 
object  of  some  description,  when  he  reached  Sambas, 
openly  dangling  from  his  neck  by  a  cord,  it  is  not  to  be 
credited  that  he  could  carry  that  object— presumably 
my  grandfather's  missing  papers — even  so  far  as  his 
unknown  grave.  Somewhere  in  the  trackless  wilder 
ness  of  Borneo  these  papers  and  the  hapless  wretch 
who  stole  them  must  be  buried  eternally  out  of  all 
human  sight.  Doctor  Hedland's  recovery  of  the  trail 
beyond  Sambas,  even  though  he  may  have  traced  it  to 
this  very  village,  enlists  my  interest  at  this  time  merely 


432  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

because  it  is  my  duty  to  Edwin  Belmore,  as  well  as  to 
myself  and  my  family  name,  to  miss  no  accessible  proof 
of  Kuadh's  certain  refuge  and  death  in  this  island.  If 
we  can  prove  the  death  itself,  with  any  kind  of  legal 
identification,  our  case  in  chancery  may  be  brought  to 
a  conclusion— for,  or  against,  us.  Such  is  the  poor 
sum,  Miss  Effingham,  of  my  nephew's  hereditary  pros 
pects,  and  mine." 

The  Colonel's  unreserved  admittance  of  her  to  his 
confidence,  in  this  way,  made  Abretta  forget  that  she 
had  been  so  lately  principled  to  keep  him  at  a  very 
chilling  distance.  When,  therefore,  Berner  presently 
summoned  the  whole  party  from  their  twilight  linger 
ing  on  the  veranda,  to  dinner  by  candle-light  in  the 
larger  of  the  two  cottages,  she  was  as  deep  in  conver 
sation  with  her  recent  ideal  of  presumptuous  English 
arrogance,  as  were  her  parents  and  Cousin  Sadie  with 
the  regenerated  naturalist ;  and,  .  it  having  been 
agreed  that  one  table  should  serve  for  all  during  the 
short  visit,  the  ensuing  quaintly  appointed  and  varied 
meal  ushered  in  the  evening  most  enjoy  ably  for  every 
body. 

Night's  curtain  descended  upon  the  village  in  the  air 
while  this  gustatory  diversion  was  in  progress.  From 
a  domestic  interior  of  primitive,  barnlike  simplicity ; 
fantastically  incongruous  with  the  desperately  extem 
porized  banquetting-board  and  its  company  ;  the  thin, 
pale  light  of  tapers  brought  from  Kuchin  defined,  spec 
trally,  on  the  darkened  outer  atmosphere,  the  sagging 
doorway  and  the  opened  flap  of  the  palm-leaved  roof. 
On  either  side  of  the  partitions  across  the  veranda 
gathered  swarms  of  villagers  for  a  while  ;  to  peer  and 
wonder  as  sharply  as  they  dared,  and  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  to  disperse,  instantly,  should  their  at  pres 
ent  invisible  Orang-Kaya  appear,  to  rebuke  sucb  covert 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.      433 

transgression  of  their  pledge  of  abstinence  from  that 
vicinity. 

Pa  Jenna  did,  indeed,  mysteriously  disappear  from 
his  place  and  function  of  immediate  magistracy  very 
soon  after  dusk,  and  in  such  seeming  haste  that  no  one 
was  deputed  by  him  to  restrict  the  freaks  of  popular 
curiosity  in  his  absence.  It  was  hinted  privately 
amongst  certain  elders  of  the  community,  that  a  run 
ner,  secretly  dispatched  by  him,  some  days  before,  to 
Patusen,  had  come  back  ;  and  that,  soon  after  this  ar 
rival,  the  Orang-Kaya  summoned  four  favorite  follow 
ers  and  hurriedly  descended  the  ladders  with  them,  as 
though  bent  upon  an  urgent  mission.  None,  however, 
believed  that  he  would  be  long  away. 

It  was  past  midnight,  and  a  starless  gloom  enveloped 
river,  hillside,  and  now  wholly  darkened  and  sleeping 
village,  when  the  phantom  of  a  very  light  canoe,  noise 
lessly  paddled  by  two  ghostly  shapes,  came  stealthily  to 
the  village  lauding,  from  the  direction  of  Songi.  Softly 
laying  aside  his  paddle,  and  as  cautiously  lifting  a  long, 
spear-like  weapon  from  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  the  fore 
most  human  shade  placed  two  fingers  across  his  lips 
and  produced  a  peculiar,  wailing  cry,  like  that  of  the 
bird  of  omen  known  as  the  Kushah.  Listening  intently 
thereafter,  and  hearing  no  response,  he  seemed  to  hesi 
tate  for  a  brief  interval,  and  gaze  questioningly  into 
the  darkness  above.  Then  the  cry  was  repeated  over 
his  head ;  whereupon,  lifting  another  object  from  the 
bottom  of  the  canoe,  and  placing  it  under  his  arm,  he 
waved  a  sign  with  his  spear-like  sumpitan  for  his  speech 
less  companion  to  follow  ashore  ;  and,  in  another  mo 
ment,  the  two  were  swiftly  and  silently  climbing  the 
ladders  up  the  steep  bank. 

-  At  the  summit  of  this  preliminary   ascent,  where 
the  greenly  matted  ground  was  nearly  flai,  for  a  short 


434  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

space,  before  the  densely -wooded  acclivity  of  the  village 
began,  four  other  shadowy  beings  abruptly  fell,  without 
warning  word  or  slightest  sound,  upon  the  dim  pair, 
and  held  them  pinioned  and  helpless  in  the  suddenly 
kindled  yellow  light  of  a  large  lamp  of  clay  borne  by  a 
fifth  captor. 

"  Your  life  is  at  the  point  of  my  kris,  Sejugah,"  said 
the  light-bearer,  in  a  concentrated  though  low  voice, 
advancing  his  lamp  nearer  to  the  frightened  face  of  the 
captive  with  the  sumpitan  and  the  object  under  an 
arm. 

"Who  has  betrayed  me?"  quavered  the  disgraced 
Dyak  ;  his  eyes  glaring  with  the  wild  openness  of  brute 
fear,  and  his  tremulous  limbs  making  no  resistance 
when  Pa  Jenna's  associates  quietly  took  from  him  his 
weapon,  and  a  seeming  bamboo  case  about  fourteen 
inches  long. 

"  It  is  enough  for  you  to  know,  wretched  youth,  that 
I  have  heard  of  your  visit  to  Patusen,"  said  the  Orang- 
Kaya,  sternly.—"  But  who  is  this  with  you?  "  he  added, 
moving  the  glaring  lamp  towards  the  cringing  second 
prisoner. 

"Only  a  boy,  who  knows  nothing  of  my  purpose," 
responded  Sejugah  ;  and  he  continued,  with  more  firm 
ness  of  tone  : — "Whatever  you  may  do  with  me,  Pa 
Jenna,  remember  that  I  have  meant  no  harm  to  you. 
Tuan  Hedland  has  put  a  disgrace  upon  me  forever,  and 
I  meant  to  tell  Makota  that  Amina  had  fled  to  Tuan's 
house." 

"  Amina  fled  to  me,  fool !  and  is  now  with  my  sister, 
at  Kuchin,"  rejoined  Pa  Jenna,  glowering  angrily  upon 
the  traitor. 

"  Take  the  boy  back  to  the  canoe,  and  let  him  return 
whence  he  came,"  was  his  order,  after  a  brief  pause. 
Two  of  the  Dyaks  promptly  disappeared  down  the  side 


UNWONTED  GUESTS  IN  THE  VILLAGE.      435 

of  the  bluff  with  the  lesser  captive ;  and  the  Orang- 
Kaya,  handing  his  lamp  to  one  of  the  remaining  twain, 
took  in  exchange  the  bamboo  case  before  mentioned. 
From  the  interior  of  the  latter,  with  a  readiness  of 
movement  showing  that  the  use  of  such  an  object  was 
not  unfamiliar  to  him,  he  drew  forth  a  polished  spear 
head,  and  held  it,  fitfully  glittering,  near  the  twitching 
face  of  Sejugah. 

"I  had  expected  this,  too  !"  he  muttered,  with  sup 
pressed  fury,  "  and  it  shall  go  to  him  who  will  know  best 
how  to  pay  for  it." 

Expecting  instant  death,  Sejugah  bowed  his  head  in 
despairing  nervelessness. 

"Stand  away  from  him!"  commanded  the  fierce  bar 
barian  chief. 

His  two  followers  released  the  baffled  captive,  with 
the  same  noiseless  obedience  as  before. 

"You  are  the  son  of  my  father's  brother,  Sejugah," 
said  Pa  Jenna,  slowly  ;  "  and  as  your  crime  is  known  to 
me  before  it  has  gone  beyond  yourself,  I  give  you  your 
miserable  life.  Go,  unworthy  Illanaon !  but  dare  not 
return  to  the  village.  Escape  into  the  mountains  while 
night  yet  hides  your  form,  and  beware  that  you  are 
further  than  Gunong  Tubbang  before  Tuan  Hedland 
goes  there  to-morrow,  for  I  shall  tell  him  of  what  you 
would  have  done.  Never  show  your  face  again  in  the 
village,  or  upon  the  river,  if  you  would  not  have  your 
head  hanging  in  the  head-house. 

"  Give  him  his  sumpitan,"  he  concluded,  with  a  ges 
ture  towards  the  custodian  of  that  weapon. 

The  recreant  Dyak  prostrated  himself  at  his  kins 
man's  feet,  in  token  of  tribal  submission  to  the  sentence 
pronounced ;  then  hurriedly  grasped  the  mercifully 
conceded  means  of  self-defence,  and  darted  out  of  the 
flickering  circle  of  lamp-light  into  the  outer,  trackless 


436  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

darkness.  His  flying  footsteps  gave  back  no  sound  ; 
but  the  remaining  figures  stood  motionless  until  suffi 
cient  time  had  elapsed  for  his  withdrawal  beyond  pos 
sible  sight  or  hearing. 

Pa  Jenna  turned  his  eyes  from  the  spear-head,  at 
last,  to  the  watchful  face  of  the  bearer  of  the  lamp,  and 
that  shadowy  mute  extinguished  the  light. 

4 'Follow  me." 

At  the  water's  edge  the  three  silhouetted  mystics  of 
the  disembodying  gloom  were  rejoined  by  their  two 
fellows ;  and  the  five  human  outlines  of  the  all-indis 
tinct  picture  of  starless  night  in  the  wilderness  were 
presently  dim  half-figures  on  a  dimmer  canoe,  in  swift 
and  silent  flitting  towards  the  lower  point  of  the  stream, 
where  lay  moored  the  prahu  from  Kuchin. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET. 

Iisr  the  morning,  after  a  breakfast  of  fried  fish,  sea- 
biscuit,  coffee  and  fruit :  to  which  the  ladies  came  with 
an  air  of  not  yet  being  the  more  at  home  in  their  novel 
place  of  sojourn  from  having  spent  the  night  amid 
surroundings  as  unluxurious  as  those  of  strolling 
players  in  a  rural  granary ;  Dr.  Hedland  and  the 
Colonel  conducted  the  others,  across  a  bridge,  from  the 
veranda  behind  the  village  to  the  receding  hill-top 
beyond.  A  brief  experience  of  such  clambering  amongst 
tenacious  rank  vegetation  as  the  gentlest  explorers  of 
foreign  heights  must  occasionally  essay,  brought  the 
party  to  a  sunny  little  expanse  of  table-land,  where  the 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          437 

object  of  attraction  was  a  great  vine,  running  in  the 
most  graceful  undulations  over  and  between  shrubs  and 
tree-stumps,  for  a  distance  of  several  yards,  and  bear 
ing  at  short  intervals  exquisitely  proportioned  natural 
vases,  of  vivid  green  daintily  mottled  with  red. 

"  'Bretta,  my  dear,  a  pitcher-plant!"  exclaimed  Miss 
Ankeroo,  clasping  her  hands  in  an  ecstacy  of  botanical 
delight. 

A  chorus  of  wondering  admiration  followed,  as  the 
family  gave  minuter  attention  to  this  marvel  of  the 
Equatorial  vegetable  kingdom,  never  seen  by  them 
before.  Its  pitchers,  nearly  a  foot  deep,  were  largest  at 
the  base,  and  then  symmetrically  narrowed  before 
flaring  at  the  top  into  two  leafy  wings,  or  ears ;  between 
which  an  elastic,  green  lid  came  down  upon  a  delicately 
annulated  brim.  In  each  there  was  a  quantity  of  water, 
not  looking  exactly  potable. 

"This  is  very  different  from  our  pitcher-plants  in 
Virginia  and  Florida,"  observed  Mr.  Effingham. 

"And  handsomer  than  the  specimens  I  have  seen 
growing  in  Ceylon  ;  although  there  is  a  red  variety, 
there,  of  uncommon  beauty,"  said  Colonel  Daryl. 

"  Your  American  pitcher-plants,"  returned  the  natu 
ralist,  to  the  merchant,  "are  of  the  genius  Sarracenia, 
and,  excepting,  perhaps,  a  variety  lately  found  in  Cali 
fornia,  will  not  compare  in  extent  and  splendor  with  our 
East  Indian  nepenthece  family.  The  Australian  water- 
plant's  pitchers,  curiously  elaborate  in  details,  are  not 
more  than  a  quarter  the  size  of  these  before  us.  Botan 
ists  will  tell  you  that  plants  of  this  species  can  thrive 
only  in  bogs  and  swamps  ;  yet  here  you  see  one  nourish 
ing  on  a  hilltop,  and  I  have  found  the  nepenthes  on  every 
mountain  known  to  me  in  Borneo,  from  the  thirteen 
thousand  feet  altitude  of  Mount  Keeni  Baloo,  above 
Bruni,  to  Santobong  and  the  heights  around  us  here." 


438  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  There  appear  to  be  dead  insects  in  the  water  of 
some  of  these  pitchers,"  said  Mrs.  Effingham. 

"Drowned  there,  madame,  as  they  might  have  been 
in  a  tumbler  of  the  same  fluid,"  explained  the  Doctor. 
"  And  there  you  see  a  basis  of  many  of  the  pleasing 
fables  of  science  about  insectiverous,  or  carniv 
orous,  plants,  which  are  supposed  to  set  traps  for  unwary 
flying  and  creeping  mites,  and  then  assimilate  them." 

"But  are  those  fables,  sir  ?"  inquired  Miss  Ankeroo, 
in  a  surprised  tone. 

"  My  own  investigations  have  never  brought  me  one 
positive  proof  of  their  truth,"  was  the  answer,  in  quite 
the  old,  dogmatic  style  of  the  speaker.  "  In  the 
pitcher-shaped,  or  trumpet-shaped,  ascidia  of  the  Sarra- 
ceniacece,  or  the  nepenthece,  dead  insects  are  discovered, 
as  you  see  them  here ;  near  the  brims  of  some  Sarra- 
cenia  a  secretion  like  honey  is  found  ;  and  whether  at 
tracted  by  the  water,  or  the  honey;  be  the  pitcher 
lidded,  as  in  the  nepenthes  Rafflesiana  at  our  feet,  or 
open,  like  the  Venezuelan  Hdiamphora ;  it  is  assumed 
that  the  deluded  insects  are  artfully  tempted  in,  or 
fatuously  press  their  way  in,  and  so  furnish  fleshy  sus 
tenance  to  the  treacherous  plant.  Practically,  the 
whole  scientific  deduction  is  from  no  stronger  proof- 
positive  than  you  now  behold  in  the  drowned  flies  of 
these  pitchers  here." 

"  Hedland,  you  talk  very  curiously,  of  late,  about 
Science,  for  a  scientist,"  remarked  the  Colonel,  with  a 
short  laugh. 

"I've  suffered  something,  myself,  I  believe,  for 
taking  her  to  be  infallible,"  responded  the  naturalist, 
with  a  queer  glance  at  his  friend.  "Were  I  a  contro 
versial  theologian,  my  first  point  against  Scientific  Ma 
terialism  would  be,  that  while  it  cants  so  glibly  about 
the  puerile  folly  of  taking  any  account  in  reasoning  of 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          439 

the  'Unknowable'  and  'Unthinkable,'  it  assumes  just 
as  much  of  the  arbitrarily  inferential,  and  insists  quite 
as  much  upon  a  blind  faith  in  existences  and  processes 
never  yet  found  practically  demonstrable  to  unpreju 
diced  thought,  as  the  system  of  spiritual  intuition  that 
it  chiefly  combats.  I  know  this  much  from  my  own 
experience,  although  never  realizing  it  until  within 
the  last  month." 

To  all  but  Colonel  Daryl  this  speech  sounded  like  one 
of  the  frequent  irritable  perversities  of  a  man  born  a 
chronic  Oppositionist ;  and  even  to  the  Colonel  it  had 
a  sound  of  capricious  extravagance  beyond  reasonable 
warrant  of  what  he  privately  knew  of  the  speaker's 
later  scientific  disconcertion. 

For  the  purpose  of  breaking  the  awkward  silence  en 
suing,  as  the  party  turned  to  retrace  their  steps  to  the 
village,  Mr.  Effingham  observed  that  the  flattened  sum 
mit  they  were  leaving  would  afford  an  admirable 
retreat  for  the  villagers,  in  case  of  a  sudden  warlike 
attack  upon  their  homes  below.  The  remark  led  to  an 
interesting  dissertation  upon  the  customs  of  Dyak  war 
fare  by  Hedland,  who  quickly  regained  his  former  un 
professional  affability;  and  the  little  botanical  excursion 
presently  ended  in  a  return  to  the  cottages. 

It  was  an  hour  past  noon  before  the  uneasy  con 
sciences  of  the  two  men  destined  for  the  apparently 
very  selfish  adventure  of  the  Cave  would  allow  them  to 
desert  their  American  friends.  When  the  time  of  de 
parture  could  no  longer  be  judiciously  delayed,  not  only 
Daryl  and  the  Effinghams,  but  also  a  throng  of  observ 
ing  villagers,  were  surprised  to  see  Hedland  lead  the 
way,  riverward,  down  the  toilsome  vertical  ladders  from 
the  veranda,  after  his  two  appointed  Dyak  boatmen, 
instead  of  making  the  usual  commodious  descent 
through  his  own  house. 


440  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"Is  this  special  athletic  exercise  intended  for  the 
entertainment  of  the  ladies  ?"  queried  the  Colonel,  as 
they  touched  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  colonnade  of 
piles. 

"The  ladders  are  removed  from  my  house  until  our 
return — which  we  must  make  as  early  as  possible,"  the 
Doctor  said,  hurrying  down  the  short  flight  to  the 
water,  where  a  light  canoe  with  an  awning  awaited 
them.  He  evinced  no  disposition  to  be  more  explicit 
until  the  paddle-wielder  at  either  elevated  end  of  the 
boat  had  taken  his  signal  to  push  oif  from  the  shore. 
Then— 

"  I  have  been  rather  troubled  ever  since  we  came  back 
from  botanizing,  Daryl,  by  the  discovery  of  two  disap 
pearances  for  which  I  can  not  at  all  account.  In  the 
first  place,  Pa  Jenna,  whom  I  had  charged  to  keep  the 
village  upon  its  best  behavior  during  the  visit  of  our 
fair  friends,  and  whose  presence  there  in  our  absence 
was  to  be  my  chief  reassurance  in  leaving  the  place  this 
afternoon,  has  not  been  seen  here  since  last  night, 
when  a  runner  that  he  had  sent  out  to  track  a  missing 
kinsman,  is  said  to  have  brought  him  a  message.  In 
•the  second  place  —  and  this  circumstance  is  far  the 
stranger — Mr.  Efnngham's  Bugis  prahu  is  gone,  with 
out  a  sign,  from  her  mooring  down  the  river." 

"That  is,  indeed,  extraordinary,"  commented  the 
veteran  soldier,  his  countenance  and  inflection  betray 
ing  surprise  and  some  anxiety.  "  Does  Mr.  Effingham 
know  it  ?" 

"  Not  from  me.  I  said  nothing  to  him  on  the  subject, 
because  the  Bugis  ray  ah  may  merely  have  gone  to  an 
anchorage  at  Leda  Tanah,  from  fear  of  the  prahu 's 
grounding  at  ebb  tide.  There  was  no  time  for  me  to 
ascertain  whether  that  is  so,  or  not." 

"It  must  be  so,"  said  the  Colonel,  with  an  air  of 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          441 

relief.  "There  is  not  much  doubt  that  the  boat  will 
reappear  at  the  right  place  tomorrow  morning,  when 
the  family  are  ready  for  their  return.  Your  thrifty 
Bugis  is  not  likely  to  run  away  from  a  liberal  pay 
master." 

"  Probably  you  are  right,"  assented  the  Doctor,  nod 
ding  thoughtfully  ;  "but  I  can't  understand  Pa  Jenna's 
conduct.  This  is  the  first  time  in  more  than  a  year  that 
he  has  absented  himself  from  the  village  overnight 
without  some  notice  to  me.  However,  there  can  be  no 
uninvited  access  to  the  place  through  my  house,  now, 
and  we  may  be  back  there,  ourselves,  before  dark." 

"  Uninvited  access  ?"  echoed  Colonel  Daryl,  astound 
ed.  "  Who  on  earth  should  attempt  that  sort  of  busi 
ness  here,  in  these  days,  Lawrence  ?  I  have  supposed 
your  village  to  be  as  free  from  every  imaginable  outside 
danger  as  any  hamlet  in  the  heart  of  England ;  now 
that  the  whole  province  seems  so  devotedly  loyal  to 
Brooke.  From  your  tone  of  misgiving  one  might  fancy 
that  we  are  guilty  of  something  much  more  serious 
than  a  breach  of  politeness,  in  leaving  strangers  alone 
on  that  monstrous  perch,  even  for  a  few  hours  only." 

"  If  Amina,  the  runaway  Dyak  wife  of  Makota,  had 
remained  in  the  village,  I  should  have  misgivings,  in 
deed,"  responded  the  naturalist,  his  brow  clearing  ; 
"  the  girl's  flight,  under  a  man's  protection,  was  such  a 
stinging  dishonor  for  the  savage  Malay  prince,  that  he 
might  have  been  expected  to  adopt  any  treacherous  or 
desperate  means  for  her  recapture,  if  she  had  finally 
harbored  anywhere  else  than  under  the  invincible  Ka- 
jah's  own  wing  at  Kuchin.  Possibly  Pa  Jenna's  run 
ner  brought  him  word  of  some  scheme  on  foot  for  the 
girl's  abduction,  even  from  Kuchin  itself,  and  he  may 
have  felt  compelled  to  go  there  on  the  instant." 

"lam  sorry  that  we  did  not  delay  this  private  expe- 


442  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

dition  of  ours  until  after  the  Americans  were  gone," 
muttered  Daryl,  shaking  his  head  doubtfully. 

"  That  is  a  reflection  upon  my  chivalry,  for  which  I 
shall  expect  an  apology  before  the  day  is  over,"  re 
joined  Hedland,  with  a  jaunty  air  of  fully  recovered 
confidence.  "  You  persist  in  regarding  this  same  ex 
pedition,  as  you  call  it,  Will,  in  the  light  of  an  under 
taking  to  be  shifted  about  from  day  to  day,  like  a 
Thames  punting  frolic.  Am  I  the  kind  of  man  to  drag 
you  summarily  from  your  Singapore  dress-parades  into 
these  lonely  mountains,  and  leave  my  own  invited  guests 
so  unceremoniously  on  the  only  afternoon  of  their  visit, 
for  the  sake  of  a  matter  of  no  immediate  moment  ?" 

"I  don't  know,"  said  his  companion,  stubbornly; 
"you  have  been  such  a  paradoxical  being  to  eveiy- 
body  since  the  time  of  Edwin's  sickness  at  '  The 
Grove,'  that  I  should  not  be  surprised  at  any  freak  of 
yours  now.  We  are  old  friends,  and  I  may  as  well 
speak  plainly." 

"  Well,  I  've  only  convinced  your  own  sagacity  of  my 
farther  solution  of  a  mystery  of  possibly  great  import 
ance  to  you,  though  you,  yourself,  had  given  it  up  as 
thoroughly  hopeless  ;  and  now  I  am  conducting  you  to 
make  a  personal  test  that,  whether  it  justifies  your 
pains,  or  not,  must  exhibit  myself  to  you,  conclusively, 
as  something  scarcely  more  dignified  than  an  arrant 
charlatan  of  '  Science. ' ' 

"  And  you  reiterate  this  to  me  in  the  tone  of  a  good 
joke  !"  Daryl  exclaimed,  staring  as  though  doubtful  of 
his  own  apprehension.  "  Have  you  established  the  Ape 
in  this  cave  of  yours  as  a  fortune-teller ;  and  do  you 
experience  rational  misgivings  as  to  my  likelihood  of 
being  satisfactorily  impressed  with  his  occult  power 
of  assisting  us  to  divine  the  fate  of  Kuadh  ?  Upon  my 
word,  Larry,  to  those  who  do  not  know  you  as  well  as 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          443 

the  Rajah  and  I — our  American  friends,  for  example — 
your  changes  of  manner  must  seem  like  the  vagaries  of 
veritable  mental  disease  !" 

"Oshonsee  might  not  be  wholly  impracticable  as  a 
solver  of  some  mysteries,"  responded  Doctor  Hedland, 
taking  his  friend's  fretfulness  with  aggravating  com 
posure.  "As  for  the  variations  of  mood  upon  which 
you  so  graciously  congratulate  me — I  should  like  to 
know  by  what  standard  of  rational  consistency  that 
fine  girl  and  her  high-bred  mother  judge  your  latest 
very  friendly  assiduity  for  their  entertainment,  after 
such  Macchiavellian  diplomacy  on  your  part,  between 
the  family  and  young  Belmore,  of  which  they  appear 
to  have  more  than  an  inkling  at  '  The  Grove  '  ?" 

"Your  retort  is  both  fair  and  unfair,"  said  Colonel 
Daryl,  discomfited  for  the  moment  by  this  unexpected 
tu  quoquc,  Brute,  of  the  philosopher.  "  It  would  be 
useless  for  me  to  deny,  that  I  find  it  simply  impossible 
to  maintain  any  dignified  consciousness  of  my  own 
rights  and  wrongs  in  the  society  of  a  woman  so  subtly 
subduing  as  Mrs.  Effingham.  And  I  find,  too,  that  her 
daughter  has  a  certain  ingenuous  fascination  for  me. 
You  are  fair  in  charging  that  I  show  little  consistency 
to  these  ladies  ;  but  you  are  also  unfair,  inasmuch  as 
my  ultimate  discouragement  of  my  nephew's  partiality 
in  that  quarter,  was  especially  precipitated  by  your  own 
emphatically  expressed  opinion  of  a  certain  trait  in  the 
character  of  the  head  of  the  family." 

"I  said  he  was  the  proudest  of  men — as  thorough 
an  aristocrat  as  I  ever  met,"  confessed  the  naturalist, 
dragging  a  hand  idly  in  the  placid  water.  "  Whatever 
in  the  expression  was  calculated  to  make  you  think 
that  your  sailor-boy's  romantic  nature  stood  in  danger 
of  contumely  from  any  vulgar  mercantile  pride  of 
purse,  may  be  assigned  to  my  temporary  irritation  at 


444  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

having  been  overwhelmingly  talked  out  of  a  field  of  my 
own  rash  selection  by  the  American.  He  maintained 
his  republican  dignity  sorely  at  the  expense  of  my  Brit 
ish  obstinacy.  In  fact,  I  have  learned  to  like  the  man 
greatly  ;  as  I  do  the  whole  family  ;  and,  in  my  opinion, 
Daryl,  it  was  much  more  the  morbid  assumption  of 
your  own  pride  than  any  justification  in  the  visible 
character  of  your  charming  sister-in-law,  or  her  hus 
band,  or  her  daughter,  that  prompted  you  to  act  as 
though  a  lacerating  indignity  was  obviously  imminent 
for  another  of  the  Daryls." 

"  That  is  plain  speaking,  in  legitimate  return  for  my 
own  recent  exercise  of  the  same  friendly  privilege,  and 
I  shall  not  be  hypercritical  as  to  its  justice,"  the  Colonel 
said,  smiling  faintly.  "  I  may  congratulate  you,  at  any 
rate,  upon  being  no  longer  either  so  scientifically  lofty 
above  all  ordinary  mankind  as  when  the  American  gen 
tleman  and  I  were  first  in  your  village,  or  so  combat 
ively  humble  as  when  your  spasm  of  self-depreciation 
at  '  The  Grove  '  set  all  our  teeth  on  edge." 

"I  deserve  your  irony,  old  fellow— not  a  doubt  of 
it,"  rejoined  Hedland,  though  with  no  very  penitential 
change  of  aspect.  "You  have  already  heard  me  con 
fess  my  sins  of  intellectual  presumption.  But  my 
'  spasm  of  self-depreciation, '  as  you  style  it,  was  based 
upon  a  supreme  wretchedness  of  feeling  that  might 
have  excited  the  compassion  of  Miss  Ankeroo  her 
self!  In  taking  his  final  vicious  leave  of  me,  my 
solitary  Malay  partisan  in  Borneo  had  practically 
knocked  to  pieces  my  whole  elaborate  theory  of  the 
origin  of  my  immortalizing  ape-Man  ;  yet  there  was  the 
incarnated  enigma  to  mock  me  with  the  inexorable 
certainty  of  his  dreadful  human  approximation,  and 
subject  me  to  the  torture  of  perpetually  recogniz 
ing  a  seeming  accursed  truth  in  Nature,  that  I  had 


TEE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          445 

no  longer  a  choice  but  to  reveal  in  ignorant  helpless 
ness. 

"I  cannot  adequately  describe  to  you,  "Will  Daryl, 
how  pitiably  humiliated  I  was,  at  being  suddenly  con 
vinced  that  I  must  renounce  my  whole  inductive  theory 
of  the  foreign  origin  of  Oshonsee — as  explaining  his 
structural  difference  from  the  Borneon  mias  ; — nor  what 
a  reaction  of  miserable  self-contempt  and  aversion  to 
the  unhallowed  Man-Goblin  seethed  in  my  tormented 
moral  nature,  at  the  thought  that  I  had  merely  blun 
dered  unintelligently  upon  a  horrible  hybrid  ;  one  that 
I  could  only  introduce  to  the  world  as  a  living  confuta 
tion  of  every  sublime  spiritual  pretension  of  Man — of 
his  Divine  special  Fatherhood — without  having  more 
knowledge  of  the  creature's  true  ethnologic  relation 
than  the  vulgarest  showman !  Losing  the  mental  in 
toxication  of  sanguine  philosophical  theory,  I  was  yet 
forced  to  realize  that  the  world  held  a  frightful  living 
Blasphemy,  against  the  possibility  of  whose  existence 
my  natural  mind,  now  freed  from  the  self-delusions  of 
intellectual  arrogance,  protested  with  every  instinct  of 
its  own  mysterious  being.  Can  you  wonder  that  I  even 
made  one  attempt  to  murder  the  object  of  my  spiritual 
abhorrence  ? 

"  And  such  was  my  mood,  Daryl,  when  I  went  to 
Kuchin  at  your  call.  Before  I  left  'The  Grove,'  our 
noble  friend,  the  Rajah,  invited  my  confidence,  and 
controverted  my  despairing  obstinacy  of  self-defensive 
argument  with  every  Christian  principle.  He  believed 
that  I  exaggerated  the  human  similitudes  of  a  perhaps 
exceptional  anthropoid  ape,  and  persistently  pressed 
upon  me  that  I  should  doubt  the  evidence  of  my  own 
limited  senses,  rather  than  proclaim  what  Man  must 
lose  his  Father's  God,  his  Eedeemer,  and  his  immor 
tality  of  Soul,  in  believing.  This  construction  I  repelled 


446  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

by  all  the  desperate  resources  of  specious  sophistry  in 
which  the  despiritualized  mind  is  made  adroit  by  eter 
nal  hidden  conflict  with  human  nature's  ineradicable 
moral  instinct  of  innate  self-respect.  But  it  was  all 
sophistry,  only.  I  felt  that,  while  I  was  hottest  in  it. 
Father  Urban's  famous  thesis  ran :  Quid  sit  Jesuita. 
nemo  scit,  nisi  quifuit  Ipse  Jesuita — no  one  knows  what 
a  Jesuit  is,  but  he  that  has  been  a  Jesuit.  The  disin- 
genuities  of  scientific  positivism  are  appreciated  only 
by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  proportion  of  specu 
lative  deduction  to  absolute  demonstration  in  advanced 
physical  science." 

The  tenor  of  this  frank  confession  was  not  more  sur 
prising  to  Daryl,  than  the  air  of  calm,  philosophical 
complacency  with  which  it  was  delivered.  He  knew 
not  what  to  expect  next,  and  said,  rather  weakly  : 

"  I  never  much  believed,  Hedland,  that  any  supposed 
new  discovery  relative  to  the  origin  of  our  species  was 
likely  to  make  you  permanently  a  spiritual  heathen : 
though  you  might  seem  such  for  a  while  to  those  who 
assume  that  progressive  Science  and  stationary  Religion 
must  necessarily  be  hostile  to  each  other." 

"  As  the}'  always  must !— That  is,  some  of  the  most 
positive  assumptions  of  what  I  may  call  modern  scien 
tific  Materialism,  are  radically  irreconcilable  with  every 
essential  inculcation  of  Christian  faith.  Prove  by  in 
disputable  physical  demonstration  that  the  Biblical 
history  of  man's  special  creation  is  but  a  fiction  devised 
by  man's  egotism,  and  that  will  be  the  end  of  the  whole 
Mosaic  and  Christian  religion.  Could  I  have  sustained 
my  theory  of  an  ape-grown  Man,  the  God  that  you  and 
I  have  known  would  be  lost  to  us  forever.  All  definite 
conception  of  personal  Deity  must  then,  perforce,  have 
fallen  back  to  human  nature's  mere  innate  spiritual 
consciousness  of  a  something  remotely  Supernatural, 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          447 

to  account  for  the  creation  of  Nature  in  bulk  ;  and  from 
this  retrogression  to  primitive  superstitious  vagueness 
of  instinctive  recognition,  a  wholly  new  religious — and 
perhaps  moral — system  must  have  been  evolved,  for  the 
re-civilization  of  thinking  mankind." 

"  And  during  the  interval,  I  suppose,  the  world  would 
have  fallen  into  spiritual  and  moral  chaos,"  said  the 
Colonel. 

"  Inevitably.  It  would  have  been  a  period  of  brutalized 
anarchy,  between  the  loss  of  one  God  and  the  finding  of 
Another,"  returned  the  Doctor,  with  earnestness. 
"There  is  no  real  honesty  in  a  pretension  that  the 
theories  of  Science,  or  the  speculations  of  Philosophy, 
tending  to  this  consummation,  are  reconcilable  with 
anything  either  historical,  or  spiritual — and  I  might 
add,  or  even  moral — in  the  Scriptural  constitution  of 
revealed  Religion.  A  strictly  honest  reasoner  in  the 
battle  must  be  either  a  Fichte,  or  a  Schleiermacher ; 
either  in  effect  an  atheist,  or  an  uncompromising 
champion  of  thorough  orthodoxy.  To  be  a  Hegel, 
mystificating  between  the  two,  however  speciously,  is 
to  act  as  the  pendulum  of  a  clock  that  is  without  hands. " 

"  And  am  I  to  infer  from  all  this,  Lawrence,  that  you 
finally  accept  your  phenomenal  ape  as  the  mere  excep 
tional  freak  of  nature  your  friends  have,  all  along, 
believed  him  to  be  ?"  asked  the  Colonel,  wondering 
more  and  more. 

The  Doctor  smiled  significantly:  "That  is  a  ques 
tion  you  may  answer  for  yourself— before  we  leave  the 
cave." 

"I  don't  understand  you,"  rejoined  his  friend,  with 
emphasis  and  some  impatience.  "If  the  animal  had 
become  simply  a  humiliating  horror  to  you  when  you 
came  to  us  so  apologetically  in  Kuchin,  what  more 
amiable  transformation  have  you  found  in  him  to  make 


448  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

you  such  a  later  model  of  self-depreciatory  good- 
humor?" 

"  I  have  a  new  theory." 

"  And  that  is—  ?" 

"—What  you  are  now  about  to  see  practically  illus 
trated  ;  for  here  we  are  at  the  foot  of  Gunong  Tub- 
bang." 

Their  canoe  had,  indeed,  touched  the  bank,  near  a 
point  where  a  small  tributary  stream,  called  the  Stabad, 
enters  into  the  left  branch  of  the  Sarawak.  Through  an 
opening  that  had  been  lately  cut  in  a  dense  thicket  of 
growths  of  the  banana  family,  coming  almost  to  the 
water's  edge,  the  naturalist  conducted  his  friend  to  the 
base  of  a  small  mountain,  about  two  hundred  feet 
high,  and  conical  in  shape  ;  so  seemingly  steep  in  its 
ascent  that  the  trees  and  jungle  upon  it  appeared  to 
bristle  towards  the  sharp  peak  in  a  kind  of  nervously 
timid  rigidity.  By  pursuing  a  winding  path,  however, 
the  two  men  scaled  a  good  half  of  the  sharp  acclivity 
without  excessive  labor,  and  then  found  themselves 
at  the  mouth  of  a  circular  hole  in  the  ground,  down 
which  led  a  bamboo  ladder.  The  Dyak,  Kalong,  was 
in  waiting  for  them  there,  with  one  of  Hedland's 
fowling-pieces  on  his  shoulder,  and  silently  took  the 
lead  in  the  descent. 

' '  The  entrance,  you  see,  only  needs  a  trap-door,  and 
the  spell  of '  Open,  Sesame  !'  quite  to  realize  AH  Baba's 
cavern  in  the  Arabian  Nights,"  remarked  the  Doctor, 
as  they  followed  down  the  well-like  aperture. — "Don't 
forget,  now,  Daryl,  that  our  talk  must  be  in  French." 

Thus  reminded  that  the  most  philologically  sensitive 
of  orang-outans  was  to  be  encountered  in  the  subter 
ranean  retreat,  Colonel  Daryl  had  a  final  sense  of 
merely  humoring  some  culminating  visionary  caprice  in 
this  whole  stealthy  adventure.  Nevertheless,  by 


TEE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          449 

coming,  at  all,  without  explicit  understanding  of  the 
full  wherefore,  he  had  morally  committed  himself  to  a 
patient  acceptance  of  whatever  fantastical  conceit 
mignt  ensue,  and  would  remain  philosophically  passive 
to  any  event.  So  thinking,  and,  in  somewhat  dreary 
expectation  of  scrambling  from  the  foot  of  the  ladder 
into  an  underground  room  relieved  only  by  artificial 
illumination,  he  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  the  short 
descent  ending  in  a  bracing  atmosphere  as  clear  as  the 
average  woodland  twilight.  Instinctively  looking  first 
for  an  explanation  of  this  optical  phenomenon,  he  saw 
that  the  whole  farther  end  of  the  cave  was  open  to  the 
outer  air;  and,  hurrying  curiously  thither,  along  a 
flooring  of  fine,  light  sand,  and  at  last  between  snowy, 
supporting  stalactites,  gazed  down,  as  from  a  noble 
Gothic  doorway,  upon  a  descent  so  precipitous  that 
only  one  sturdy  Areca  palm  had  been  able  to 
lift  a  top  as  high  as  the  level  on  which  he  stood. 
Obs  ;rving  that  the  trunk  of  this  tree,  so  far  as  visible, 
sustained  one  of  those  dizzy,  elastic  ladders  of  consecu 
tive  bamboos,  rattanned  to  rising  pegs  driven  into  the 
bark,  whereby  the  Dyak  bee-hunter  mounts  to  his 
honeyed  harvest ;  that,  below,  at  the  foot  of  the 
declivity,  a  marshy  wood  stretched  to  the  next  hillside ; 
and  that  the  sky-sweep  of  the  upper  view  was  grandly 
extended, — he  next  turned  his  attention  definitely  in 
ward. 

The  cave  of  Tubbang  was  about  fifty,  or  sixty,  feet 
long,  and  rather  more  than  half  as  wide.  Its  lofty, 
arching  roof,  groined  like  that  of  a  Gothic  hall,  sent 
down  a  colonnade  of  stalactites,  as  already  noticed, 
where  the  rainy  percolations  of  ages  through  the  lime 
stone  above,  had  thus  invertedly  pillared  a  space  reach 
ing  some  distance  back  from  the  great  outlet  on  the 
precipice.  Midway  to  the  entrance  a  large  mound  of 


450  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

caked  earth  and  rocky  fragments,  rife  with  sunless 
vegetation,  marked  a  heavy  fall  from  the  top  of  the 
cave  that  had  occurred  in  times  long  past ;  and 
upon  this  massive  heap,  sloping  from  high  up  on  a 
side,  stood  several  mute  Dyaks  with  clumsy  wooden 
spades,  apparently  waiting  for  orders  to  resume  a  task 
of  digging  that  was  yet  but  little  advanced. 

"While  Daryl  was  inspecting  these  greater  features  of 
the  place,  his  friend  and  Kalong  approached,  "with 
the  exiled  ape  following  like  an  unrelated  human 
shadow  at  their  heels.  The  step  of  Oshonsee  shuffled 
and  dragged,  as  though  inexpressibly  wearied ;  his 
head  drooped,  his  long  arms  swung  listlessly ;  and  his 
whole  air  was  so  spiritless  that  the  Colonel's  first 
remark  referred  to  it. 

"Yes,"  answered  the  naturalist,  "the  poor  fellow 
has  not  been  himself  since  I  sent  him  here.  The  place 
depresses  him.  Kalong  must  take  him  back  to  the  vil 
lage  to-morrow.  But,  look  at  him  now,  Daryl !  Is  he, 
indeed,  nothing  more  than  a  brute  ?" 

In  the  subdued  light  of  the  scene,  with  his  head 
bowed,  his  attitude  erect,  and  his  costume  of  Chinese 
blouse  and  trousers,  the  creature  looked  mournfully 
manlike  indeed  :— so  much  so,  that  the  the  Colonel  ex 
perienced  an  unpleasant,  if  not  shrinking,  sensation  in 
looking  at  him. 

' '  The  illusion  is  uncomfortably  strong,  I  must  say, 
Hedland ;  but  perhaps  it  would  be  less  so  in  broader 
daylight.  Why  do  you  have  him  here,  where  every 
condition  is  so  contrary  to  the  arboreal  habits  of  his 
species  V  He  must  feel  like  a  bird  in  a  vacuum." 

"  I  had  him  brought  here  because  he  belongs  to  our 
story." 

"Ah,  I  thought  so  !  " 

The  Doctor  smiled  at  his  friend's  disconsolate  tone, 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  IIP  ITS  SECRET.          451 

and,  after  bidding  Kalong  to  remain  where  he  was, 
took  the  Colonel's  arm  and  moved  briskly  towards  the 
earth-heap. 

"Must  we  climb  this  rubbish  ?"  queried  Daryl, des 
perately. 

"Yes." 

"Forward,  then  ! — The  mias  seems  to  be  following 
us." 

"  His  instinct  is  finer  than  your  reason." 

"  Thank  you,  Larry  ;— but  I  don't  understand." 

"You  shall,  presently." 

A  series  of  vigorous  strides  carried  them  to  the  sum 
mit  of  the  triangular  mound,  where  it  appeared  that 
much  more  lowering  and  levelling  spade-work  had  been 
performed  than  was  apparent  from  the  Colonel's  ear 
lier  point  of  observation.  Addressing  them  in  their 
own  tongue,  the  naturalist  dismissed  the  Dyak  spades 
men  down  to  Kalong,  for  the  time,  and  then  pointed 
his  companion  to  an  object  showing  against  the  stretch 
of  the  cave's  side,  whence  a  large  quantity  of  the  fallen 
earth  had  recently  been  cleared  away. 

" Can  you  make  out  what  that  is?  I  discovered  it 
in  our  first  day's  digging." 

It  was  a  heavy,  oblong  slab  of  greyish  stone  ;  much 
chipped  and  discolored  at  the  edges  ;  set  into  the  dark 
surface  like  a  mural  tablet,  and  bearing  on  its  face  a 
rudely  sculptured  half-relief  of  some  animal.  Two  or 
three  feet  lower  down,  portions  of  three  roughly-hewn 
steps  of  the  same  kind  of  stone  had  been  partly  un 
earthed  ;  indicating  the  existence  of  a  whole  flight  be 
neath  the  remaining  mound.  Upon  the  topmost  of 
these  the  mias  crouched  himself. 

"  Why,  here  is  a  prize  for  an  archseologist !"  ex 
claimed  the  amazed  Colonel,  tracing  the  outlines  of 
the  sculptured  figure  with  an  eager  hand.  "How,  in 


452  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

the  name  of  all  the  Seven  Wonders,  came  such  a  thing 
here  ?  A  tomb,  I  suppose." 

"No;  an  altar,"  said  the  Doctor;  "and  as  old  as 
the  days  of  the  Hindoos  in  Borneo.  The  figure  is 
intended  to  represent  the  sacred  Bull,  symbol  of  the 
god  Siva  ;  called  Nandikesvara  :  the  animal  ridden  by 
Siva,  and  sent  into  the  world  as  his  avatar  when  he 
was  informed  that  men's  worship  of  him  was  declin 
ing.  I  infer  that  this  altar  belongs  to  the  close  of  the 
Hindoo  period  in  this  island,  when  the  Mahometan 
conquerors  were  beginning  to  persecute  the  religion  it 
represents.  Perhaps  this  cave  was  a  secret  temple." 

"  You  are  confident,  then,  that  the  Hindoos  once  held 
sway  here  ?" 

"  No  thoughtful  scholar  who  is  familiar  with  the  tra 
ditions  yet  preserved  among  the  older  Dyaks  could  be 
otherwise.  This  stone,  alone,  is  enough  to  prove  the 
assumption  incontestably.  Before  the  ascendancy  of 
the  mongrel  Maky,  this  poor  Borneo  had  splendid 
princely  courts  at  Bruni,  Sambas  and  Pontianak." 

"And  this  tablet  and  these  steps  were  a  secret  altar 
to  Siva,  you  think,"  resumed  the  Colonel,  musingly  ; 
the  subject  interesting  him  the  more  because  he  had  an 
ticipated  nothing  so  tangibly  practical.  "  Have  you  any 
idea  how  long  this  fallen  earth  has  covered  the  spot  ?" 

"Not  more  than  twenty  years,  perhaps,"  answered 
the  naturalist.  "  But  now,"  he  added,  drawing  nearer 
to  Daryl,  and  passing  a  hand  kindly  over  the  brow  of 
the  mias,  "you  ask  a  question  leading  straightway  to 
your  own  concern  in  the  mysteries  of  this  cave.  Is  the 
vagrant  priest's  story,  as  I  repeated  it  to  you  in  Singa 
pore,  yet  fresh  in  your  mind  ?" 

"In every  detail,"  answered  Colonel  Daryl,  turning 
to  him,  quickly. 

"  Then  follow  closely  what  I  have  now  to  say.  Ruadh 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          453 

O'Shawnessy  and  his  Panam  wife  were  seen  in  the 
Simunjon  forests,  after  their  Dyak  marriage,  and  cruel 
chaining-together,  and  transportation,  as  evil  'Antus,' 
to  the  mountains  west  of  Simpang-Kira  river.  When 
last  observed  in  the  mias  country,  they  were  accompa 
nied  by  a  younger  creature  of  their  own  species,  and 
the  maniac  had  yet  the  '  charm '  suspended  from  his 
neck.  The  legend  runs,  that  the  Simunjon  miases 
worshiped  the  chained  pair  as  'Antus  ' ;  from  which  I 
conclude  that  the  unfortunate  creatures  made  amicable 
company  with  the  orang-outans.  It  can  only  be  con 
jectured  how  long  the  Simunjon  period  lasted ;  but  I 
should  put  it  at  somewhere  about  ten  years,  and  for 
this  reason  :  — Aided  by  the  tribal  authority  of  Pa  Jenna, 
I  have  persuaded  an  old  Dyak  of  my  village,  who  was 
formerly  at  Leda  Tanah,  to  confide  to  me  what  he  has 
known  and  heard  of  the — to  him — supernatural  history 
of  the  Cave  we  are  in.  Applying  common  sense  to  the 
crude  mystical  delusions  of  his  story,  I  infer  not  only 
that  Simunjon  miases  were  seen  in  the  Sarawak  valley 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  but  also  that  your  wretched 
Euadh,  and  his  hapless,  brutalized  family,  had  by  that 
time  discovered  and  taken  shelter  in  this  cave." 

Colonel  Daryl  stared  around  the  shadowy  scene  as 
though  expecting  to  behold  some  startling  proof  of  the 
theory. 

u  This  is  about  the  substance  of  the  legend,"  pursued 
Doctor  Hedland,  quietly,  "  and  you  may  see  that  it  goes 
back  a  number  of  years  farther  than  Medlani's  narra 
tive  of  the  '  Antus  '  here  :  More  than  twenty  years  ago 
an  '  Antu  '  Queen  and  her  infant  daughter  were  in  this 
cave ;  and  miases  appeared  in  the  woods  round  about 
for  the  purpose  of  doing  homage.  A  reckless  young 
fellow  of  the  since-destroyed  village  of  Leda  Tanah 
drank  enough  '  tuak '  at  a  festival,  one  day,  to  volun- 


454  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

teer  an  exploration  of  the  fairy  miases'  mountain  home. 
Enter  the  cave  he  did,  indeed  ;  and  came  back,  abjectly 
terrified,  with  a  story  that  he  had  not  only  seen  the 
Antu  Queen  and  her  daughter,  but  also  two  fearful 
familiar  spirits,  lying  on  a  bed  of  stone  with  stone  pil 
lows — undoubtedly  these  steps  before  us,  with  their 
curbings  which  are  yet  to  be  excavated — and  having  a 
chain  between  their  waists."* 

The  Colonel  started,  and  again  stared  expectantly 
about  him. 

"  Nothing  was  seen  or  heard  again  of  these  attendant 
familiars  of  the  chain,  nor  of  the  queen  herself,  after 
the  fall  of  this  mass  of  earth  on  which  we  are  standing 
— supposed  to  have  been  produced  by  Jovata's  wrath. 
As,  however,  the  miases  yet  remained  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  it  was  supposed  that  the  little  '  Antu '  princess 
yet  lived  in  the  cave." 

"But  the  two  chained  wretches  — ?"  exclaimed 
Daryl,  showing  much  excitement. 

"  I  believe  that  they  lie  buried  at  this  moment  be 
neath  our  feet." 

Colonel  Daryl  stepped  involuntarily  back  a  pace,  like 
one  who  had  trodden  unwittingly  upon  a  serpent. 

"You  mean,"  he  said,  catching  his  breath,  "that 
we  are  standing  upon  the  grave  of  Ruadh !  This  is 
magic,  Hedland ;  yet  can  it  be  so  ?  What  absolute 
certainty  is  there,  after  all,  that  the  Sambas  story  of  the 
chain  is  not  a  superstitious  invention  ?  Remember 
Makota's  fabrications  to  you  about  this  infernal  ape 
here,  because  he  fancied  that  you  expected  an  unusual 
tale  !  Are  we  not  both  being  fooled  by  a  characteristic 
Oriental  trick  of  politic  lying  ?" 

*  In  1842,  three  years  earlier  than  the  period  of  our  narrative,  Rajah 
Brooke  saw  this  cave,  exactly  as  it  is  here  described,  and  was  told  the 
legend  of  the  fairy  queen 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          455 

"After  a  moment  I  shall  submit  a  decisive  test  to 
your  own  trial.  Let  us  suppose,  at  any  rate,  that 
Ruadh  did  find  and  inhabit  this  cave.  There  are 
plenty  of  well-attested  instances  to  prove  that  a  mad 
man  can  survive  enough  hardship  and  exposure  to  kill 
half  a  dozen  robustious  sane  men.  And  there  is  this, 
also,  about  the  insane — they  sometimes  appear  to  re 
gain  their  reason,  or  its  semblance,  at  the  approach  of 
death.  Now  assume  that  Ruadh,  by  a  never  wholly 
extinguished  instinct  of  human  nature,  dragged  him 
self  and  his  wife  and  child  to  this  final  shelter,  because 
here  are  walls,  and  roof,  and  some  human  associations 
of  permanent  safety.  He  may  even  have  fled  hither  to 
escape  the  miases,  though  they  appear  to  have  pursued. 
One  might  fancy  a  certain  dawning  of  reason  in  this 
very  movement.  One  might  also  fancy,  that,  when 
near  his  end,  the  poor  outcast  victim  of  savage  super 
stition  may  have  been  impelled,  by  a  final  reasoning- 
impulse,  to  take  some  desperate 'measure  for  the  future 
safe  concealment  of  the  treasure  he  had  so  long  kept 
hanging  upon  his  breast." 

"Hedland !  Hedland  !  you  are  the  boldest  of  theor- 
izers!"  muttered  Daryl,  in  a  bewildering  conflict  of 
credulity  and  doubt. 

Without  more  ado  the  naturalist  grasped  one  of  the 
heavy  Dyak  spades  left  sticking  in  the  truncated 
mound,  and  advanced  so  sharply  to  the  edge  of  the 
begrimed  stone  step  on  which  huddled  the  ape,  that  the 
latter  cowered  away  from  him  with  a  pitiful,  low  cry. 
Up  to  this  moment  Doctor  Hedland  had  remained  per 
fectly  calm  and  deliberate.  Now,  however,  his  manner 
became  nervously  excited,  and  he  drove  the  blade  of  his 
rude  implement  into  a  gritty  crevice  of  the  wall,  at  one 
end  of  the  sculptured  tablet,  with  a  hasty  force  indicat 
ing  a  passionate  sense  of  some  crisis  with  which  there 


456  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

should.be  not  another  moment's  temporization.  Be 
fore  his  equally  stirred  companion  could  form  any  idea 
of  his  purpose  he  had  thrown  his  broad  chest  against 
the  improvised  lever,  and  so  effectively  pried  the  carved 
stone  from  its  support  that  it  fell  heavily  upon  the  sod 
den  earth  at  his  feet,  revealing  a  square  aperture  of 
stone  that  it  had  concealed. 

"There!"  he  ejaculated,  pantingly.  "This  time  I 
have  brought  it  down  altogether.  I  moved  it  only  half 
way  when  I  was  at  it  before.  Originally  it  must  have 
swung  on  bronze  pivots.  A  device  for  some  kind  of 
priestly  concealment,  I  take  it.  *  *  Something  is 
inside,  Will  Daryl.  I  have  felt  it  with  my  hand  ;  sus 
pected — know — what  it  must  be  ;  but  I  would  not  bring 
it  out  until  you  could  be  here.  *  *  *  *  Well,  why 
don't  you  bring  it  out,  man  ?  *  *  If  I  should  be  mis 
taken—  !" 

Moving  like  a  somnambulist,  the  iron-nerved  soldier 
mechanically  thrust  an  arm  into  the  opening  in  the 
wall,  and,  with  an  inarticulate  exclamation,  drew  forth 
an  object  of  cylindrical  shape  ;  perhaps  a  foot  long  and 
not  quite  half  as  wide  :  black  as  charcoal,  apparently, 
and  dangling  at  either  end  a  bit  of  coarse,  tarred 
string. 

"  Quick  !  Tear  it — cut  it — open  !"  fumed  the  Doctor, 
hovering  around  his  now  thoroughly  dazed  friend  like  a 
wizard  chafing  over  a  dilatory  incantation. 

Every  eager  effort  to  rip  away  the  matted  envelope 
of  the  strange  prize  proving  futile  for  his  strong,  though 
not  quite  steady,  fingers,  the  sorely  fluttering  Colonel 
finally  applied  a  knife  to  the  task  ;  and,  by  several  reck 
less  slashes  at  hazard  through  thickness  upon  thickness 
of  redintegrated  oilskin,  brought  to  view,  in  the  dusky 
light,  a  roll  of  papers.  One  glimpse,  at  the  start  of 
their  unrolling,  was  enough — 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          457 

"Well,  you  snail!  i'sit?"  cried  the  naturalist,  half- 
mad  in  his  impatience. 

"  It  is,  indeed,  the  Fortune  of  the  Daryls  ! "  shouted 
the  other ;  his  voice  breaking  shrilly  with  excite 
ment. 

In  the  overwhelming  emotion  of  the  instant  the 
electrified  speaker  had  forgotten  his  French  obligation 
and  lapsed  into  English.  At  the  sound,  a  hoarse,  rasping 
scream,  "O-shon-see!  O-shon-see!  O-shon-see!  "seemed 
to  break  from  the  dim  air  immediately  behind  the  two 
friends  ;  and,  simultaneously,  the  Dyaks  at  the  foot  of 
the  mound  uttered  outcries  at  sight  of  the  frenzied  Ape 
flying  down  to  and  between  them,  in  the  direction  of 
the  opening  on  the  precipice. 

" Kalong !— stop  him!"  roared  Hedland,  plunging 
from  the  mound  with  a  youth's  agility,  and  bounding  as 
swiftly  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitive  as  the  swiftest  of  the 
Dyaks. 

On  the  very  verge  of  the  great  doorway  in  the  air 
they  overtook  the  frantic  creature,  and  a  brief,  desper 
ate  struggle  ensued,  before  the  Doctor  could  drag  him 
from  his  probably  intended  leap  to  the  tree-top  beyond 
the  edge. 

"Tuan!  See!  Sejugah!"  cried  Kalong,  pointing 
down  the  jungled  steep. 

A  Dyak  with  a  long  weapon  clasped  in  his  left  hand 
could  be  seen,  for  a  moment,  darting  from  the  foot  of 
the  laddered  palm,  and  then  sliding  swiftly  down  the 
declivity,  as  only  Dyaks  know  how  to  do. 

"Sejugah,  eh  ?— and  with  a  sumpitan!"  muttered 
the  Doctor. 

Daryl  had  now  joined  the  group,  grasping  his  yet  but 
half-credited  prize  and  looking  wan  with  the  tempest  of 
sensations  he  was  still  undergoing. 

"  So,  your  freakish  Caliban,""  he  began,  with  an 


458  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

attempt  at  rallying,  "  continues  to  be  of  more  import 
ance  to  you  than — But,  look  !  What  ails  him  now  ?" 

The  question  was  scarcely  uttered  before  a  visible 
shudder  passed  over  the  frame  of  the  Ape,  and,  with 
an  awfully  human,  gasping  cry,  the  creature  dropped 
like  a  log  upon  the  sanded  floor.  His  startling  face, 
and  then  his  whole  body,  were  convulsed,  as  the  quickly 
kneeling  Doctor  lifted  the  poor  head  from  the  dust ;  and 
only  Kalong  seemed  to  have  inspiration  for  the  mys 
tery's  immediate  solution.  The  Dyak  summarily  tore 
away  the  blouse  from  the  animal's  hairy  chest,  and, 
after  a  swift,  comprehensive  glance,  pointed  to  a  spot 
near  the  heart. 

"A  jowing,  Tuan  Hedland,  from  Sejugah's  sumpi- 
tan,"  he  said. 

Hedland,  his  ruddy  face  turned  a  bluish  white, 
reached  a  hand  to  the  spot  indicated,  and,  after  slight 
manipulation,  drew  forth  a  small,  pointed  piece  of 
bone. 

"See!"  added  Kalong,  holding  up  what  looked  like 
the  shaft  of  a  toy  arrow,  that  he  had  found  on  the 
floor. 

"A  sumpitan  arrow*,"  groaned  the  Doctor;  "and 
the  wretch  intended  it  for  me  !" 

"  For  you  V"  murmured  his  friend. 

"  Yes.  I  have  been  warned  of  Sejugah's  enmity.  He 
lurked  in  yonder  tree-top,  to  kill  me  when  I  should 
appear  at  this  opening  of  the  cave,  and  the  poisoned 
dart  designed  for  my  breast  has  slain  this  poor  fellow." 


*  The  Dyak  sumpitan  is  a  weapon  of  hard  wood,  like  a  spear  in  appear 
ance  and  having  a  lance-head  fastened  on  it  like  a  bayonet.  It  is  bored 
for  a  small  dart,  generally  made  of  the  thorn  of  the  Sago  palm  and 
poisoned  at  the  point,  or  jowing,  with  the  deadly  sap  of  the  Upas.  A 
puff  of  the  lips  will  send  this  dart  forty  yards,  and  the  point  breaks  in 
the  wound. 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          459 

The  Ape  gasped  once  more,  as  in  confirmation  of  his 
master's  despairing  judgment ;  a  fearful  convulsion 
racked  every  muscle  and  nerve  ;  and  then  the  upas- 
dipped,  brittle  bone  of  the  sting-ray  had  done  its  speedy 
work,  and  Oshonsee  was  dead. 

With  colorless  lips  twitching  uncontrollably,  the 
naturalist  knelt  speechlessly  at  first,  as  though  incredu 
lous  of  the  tragic  event.  Retaining  yet  the  splinter  of 
bone  drawn  from  the  shallow  wound,  he  finally  held  it 
near  to  his  glasses,  and  said,  slowly,  and  in  a  forced 
voice : 

"A  barbed  bone  of  the  sting-ray.  It  was  with  the 
envenomed  spine  of  such  a  fish :  genus  Raia,  order 
chondropterigia ;  that  Telegonus,  the  son  of  Ulysses  by 
Circe,  is  said  to  have  slain  his  father  on  the  coast  of 
Ithaca.  Makota's  devilish  hand  shows  in  this  again  : 
who  else  would  have  taught  the  dolt,  Sejugah,  to  use 
such  a  j owing  for  his  dart-tip  ?  The  upas-juice  is  white 
yet,  and  has  been  drawn  lately  from  the  trees  near 
Bruni ;  it  does  not  darken  even  now.  A  scratch  by  a 
pin  dipped  in  such  dew  of  hell  would  kill  the  strongest 
man  before — 

Not  finishing  the  sentence,  save  by  such  a  sigh  as 
interrupts  the  rambling  soliloquy  of  fever,  he  softly 
lowered  the  head  of  Oshonsee  from  his  knee  to  the 
ground,  and  spread  his  handkerchief  over  the  face : 

"  He  is  gone  I  Faithful,  cruelly  ill-fated  being,  he  is 
gone  !"  Then  rising  to  his  feet,  but  gazing  downward 
yet — "It  only  remains  for  me  to  give  him  the  grave 
from  which  he  has  saved  his  unworthy  master.  Yet 
better  so  for  him— oh,  infinitely  better  so  I" 

Colonel  Daryl's  own  state  of  mind  remained  too 
much  discomposed  by  the  marvels  going  before,  to  be 
immediately  capable  of  appreciating  all  the  meaning  of 
the  present  anomalous  scene ;  but  something  like  dis- 


460  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

may  entered  into  the  feeling  of  surprise  with  which  he 
observed  actual  tears  on  his  friend's  working  face. 

"I  am  truly  sony,  Lawrence,"  he  said,  "that  your 
wonderful  solution  of  my  fortunes  could  not  have  been 
accomplished  without  the  sacrifice  of  an  animal  so  ex 
traordinarily  endeared  to  you." 

They  were  a  strange  group  in  a  strange  place,  with 
the  mellow  haze  streaming  in  upon  them  from  a  declin 
ing  sun,  through  the  Gothic  doorway  in  the  air : — 
Heart-stricken  philosopher  and  spell -bound  soldier 
standing  at  the  head  and  the  feet  of  the  prostrate 
figure;  yellow-faced  Dyaks,  fantastically  apparelled, 
in  an  irregular  circle  around  them  ;  and  the  glittering 
stalactites  colonnading  all  as  in  some  cabalistic  temple. 

"  William  Daryl,  are  you  yet  blind  to  what  this  creat 
ure — was  ?"  asked  the  Doctor,  speaking  as  solemnly  as 
a  priest  over  the  dead.  "Have  you  felt  no  suspicions 
of  the  truth,  in  being  bidden  here  by  me  to  find  me 
proved  a  vainglorious  scientific  charlatan  ;  and  hearing 
me  confess  to  a  new  theory  in  place  of  the  one  I  had  so 
much  vaunted  as  impregnable  ?" 

"I  pretend  to  no  scientific  knowledge,  Lawrence. 
What  could  the  poor  satyrus  have  been,  but  what  he 
seemed  ?" 

"  Satyrus  ? — Yes !  and  more !  Kecall  what  you  have 
heard  of  this  cave's  occupants.  Twenty  years  ago  the 
falling  earth  from  the  roof  entombed  all  but  the  young 
'  Antu '  princess  of  the  miases.  Ten  years  later  the 
rebellion  of  Siniawin  drove  the  miases  from  the  Sarawak 
valley,  and  they  have  never  been  seen  here  since.  But 
they  did  not  take  their  princess  '  Antu '  with  them ; 
for,  at  a  later  period,  Sejugah  killed  her,  for  her  head, 
near  the  cave's  entrance,  and  Makota's  followers  subse 
quently  captured  this  unhappy  one  at  our  feet,  in  the 
same  place." 


THE  CAVE  GIVES  UP  ITS  SECRET.          461 

The  Colonel's  attentive  face  revealed  but  indefinite 
apprehension,  yet,  of  what  might  be  coming. 

"  More  than  once  my  theory  of  Ape  evolving  by  con- 
secutiveness  of  species  into  Man  has  been  met  by  the 
suggestion  that  it  could  be  made  to  prove  as  well  the 
converse  of  the  proposition — Man's  degeneracy  into 
Simia.  I  dismissed  that  idea  as  Unthinkable !  My 
friend,  it  is  the  converse  of  my  proposition  that  has 
been,  indeed,  demonstrated  to  us  at  last!" 

"What  horrible  conceit  is  this,  again ?"  exclaimed 
Daryl,  drawing  instinctively  back  from  the  feet  of  the 
dead. 

"  Think,  man  !  Think  ! — The  strong  mental  impres 
sions  of  one  generation  become  the  physical  instincts  of 
another.  Your  Ruadh's  last  intimations  of  reason 
were  ungovernable  terror  of  everything,  in  sight  or 
sound,  associative  with  England  ;  a  desperate  clinging 
to  the  precious  subject  hung  from  his  neck ;  an  inextin 
guishable  devotion  to  his  master.  Do  you  recall  how 
Oshonsee  went  into  paroxysms  of  fright  at  your  sword, 
at  a  red-coat,  and — alas  for  to-day  ! — at  your  English 
speech  ?  Have  I  told  you  how  I  found  him  hiding 
scraps  of  written  paper  in  his  bed,  and  how,  after  my 
discovery,  he  would  rest  only  at  my  feet  at  night  ?  His 
facility  in  learning  to  drink  arrack,  and  to  smoke — his 
attack  upon  Dodge — do  you  not  recognize  the  nation 
ality  of  these  traits  ?  And  then  poor  Kuadh's  habit  of 
reiterating  his  own  name  when  greatly  agitated — as 
though  to  imply,  possibly,  a  fidelity  identified  with  it 
hereditarily  ; — what  else  than  an  articulate  survival  of 
this  was  '  O-shon-see  !  O-shon-see  !  O-shon-see  '  ?" 

"  By  all  that  is  unnatural,  Hedland !"  cried  his 
friend,  aghast,  "  do  you  actually  mean  to  assert  that — " 

"  — There  was  Once  a  Man  in  the  genealogy  of  Oshon 
see  !"  broke  in  the  scientist,  vehemently  ; — "  There  was 


462  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

once  a  man ;  and  as  surely  as  that  you  and  I  stand  here, 
William  Daryl,  the  creature  now  dead  at  our  feet  is  a 
descendant,  in  the  third  generation,  from  him  whose 
dying  hand  last  held  the  fateful  papers  you  have  this 
day  regained !" 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

NIGHT'S  BRINGING  FORTH. 

THERE  was  no  lack  of  entertainment  during  the 
afternoon  for  the  visitors  left  in  the  village.  Pa  Jenna's 
unforeseen  absence  devolved  the  duties  of  master  of 
ceremonies  upon  an  old  Sibnowan  Dyak,  who  had  been 
selected  to  act  as  his  assistant  in  guarding  the  strangers 
from  undesirable  intrusions,  and  affording  them  special 
opportunity  to  observe  all  that  was  most  curious  and 
interesting  in  the  customs  of  the  place.  Deeming  it  a 
high  honor  to  be  thus  elevated  in  the  sight  of  the  all- 
powerful  "sirani,"  this  simple-minded  patriarch  of 
the  unsophisticated  air-dwellers  was  indefatigable  in 
exhibiting  one  native  industry  after  another,  upon  the 
veranda,  before  the  two  partitioned  houses,  for  the 
amusement  of  the  family.  Successive  pairs,  or  trios,  ot 
women  appeared  upon  this  stage,  with  the  appurten 
ances  of  their  respective  avocations  ;  and  the  processes 
of  pounding  rice  out  of  the  husk,  with  poles,  in  a  wooden 
trough  ;  beating  cotton  to  a  film  with  sticks,  and  then 
deftly  spinning  it  to  thread  ;  plaiting  mats  and  hats  of 
rattan  split  and  dyed,  and  fashioning  baskets  of  the 
Nypa  leaf,  were  studied  at  leisure  by  an  audience  in 
itself  serving  as  a  source  of  far  greater  wonder  to  the 
performers. 

But  when  the  shades  of  evening  began  to  deepen 


NIGHT'S  BRINGING  FORTH.  463 

without  bringing  sign  of  the  return  of  the  absent 
Doctor  and  his  companion,  and  Berner  and  Ambrose 
at  last  served  dinner  in  tacit  rebellion  against  farther 
delay  on  that  account,  Mr.  Effingham,  at  least,  ex 
perienced  a  certain  uneasiness  of  mind.  Situated  as  he 
was,  in  this  queer  outpost  of  an  unknown,  savage  land, 
with  three  women  and  a  child  dependent  upon  him  for 
protection,  the  merchant  felt  vaguely  perturbed  at  the 
unpunctuality  of  him  whose  autocratic  command  of  the 
place  had  been  the  single  condition  powerful  enough  to 
induce  his  coming  thither  in  household  state.  Every 
thing  here  was  abnormal  to  civilized  intelligence,  save 
by  association  with  the  immediate  presence  of  the  adap 
tive  naturalist ;  so  that  even  a  casual  lateness  of  the 
latter  in  ending,  by  his  reappearance,  a  lapse  of  respon 
sibility  impossible  to  be  made  good  by  any  other  than 
himself,  troubled  the  husband  and  father  much  more 
than  he  cared  to  have  perceived.  Perhaps  the  knowl 
edge  that  had  accidentally  come  to  him  of  a  covert  per 
turbation  amongst  the  villagers  at  their  Orang-Kaya's 
invisiblity,  and  of  the  mysterious  withdrawal  of  the 
ladders  from  the  Doctor's  house,  had  much  to  do  with 
his  disquieted  feeling.  What  particular  significance 
there  might  be  in  these  circumstances  he  could  not,  of 
course,  know  ;  but  he  was  satisfied  that  they  were  un 
usual,  and  that  was  enough  to  make  them  vaguely  dis 
comforting  to  him.  Had  he  been  aware  of  the  dis 
appearance  of  his  prahu  he  would  have  felt  yet  more 
disturbed. 

Expressions  of  surprise  by  the  ladies  at  the  tardiness 
of  the  mystifying  cave  excursionists,  and  surmises  as  to 
the  real  occasion  of  their  unsocial  adventure,  evoked 
only  terse  commonplaces  from  the  gentleman,  until  his 
wife,  who  had  already  given  him  two  or  three  inquiring 
looks,  put  her  own  sudden  distrust  into  words  : 


464  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"Richard,  you  have  eaten  scarcely  anything.  You 
are  not  anxious  about  them  are  you  ?" 

Abretta  and  Miss  Ankeroo  also  looked  at  him  upon 
this  remark  ;  and  the  Cherub  over  his  plate  of  fruit,  and 
Berner  and  Ambrose  in  waiting,  gave  equal  heed  to 
the  suggestive  idea.  All  of  them — not  even  excepting 
Cherubino,  who  had  presumptuously  penetrated  into 
the  forbidden  "  Head-House  "  during  the  afternoon  and 
been  fidgety  with  Dyak  ghosts  ever  since — were  more 
facile  to  be  startled  by  any  trifling  jar  in  this  unpre 
cedented  episode  of  their  life  in  the  savage  island,  than 
they  had  hitherto  fully  realized.  After  the  first  excite 
ment  of  thrilling  novelty  had  somewhat  subsided,  an 
unspoken,  indefinite  doubt  of  the  perfect  wisdom  of 
having  trusted  themselves  so  readily  to  such  a  problem 
atical  experience  of  barbarianism,  had  made  each  in 
dividual,  secretly,  more  or  less  thankful  that  the  sojourn 
was  to  end  on  the  following  morning. 

"I  can't  say  that  I  have  any  serious  apprehensions 
for  the  gentlemen,  my  dear,"  replied  Mr.  Effingham, 
bestowing  great  pains  upon  the  snuffing  of  the  nearest 
candle  while  he  spoke.  "In  a  voyage  so  short,  on 
water  so  shallow,  through  a  country  uninhabited,  there 
should  be  small  possibility  of  peril  for  a  philosopher  of 
medical  accomplishments  and  a  soldier  of  veteran 
Indian  experience.  We  must  be  patient  for  a  while 
longer,  I  suppose, — that  is  all." 

"Papa,  Doctor  Hedland  was  very  positive  that  he 
should  return  before  dark,"  said  Abretta,  reflecting  her 
mother's  questioning  expression  of  face. 

"No  doubt  he  fully  expected  to  do  so,  but  has  been 
detained  by  some  unanticipated  exigency  of  science. 
Possibly  the  paragon  of  Orang-Outans  has  not  proved 
so  apt  in  divining  the  fate  of  Colonel  Daryl's  Pat-o'- 
the-wisp  as  his  too  sanguine  discoverer  had  hoped." 


NIGHTS  BRINGING  FORTH.  465 

If  the  merchant  intended  this  for  a  reassuring  pleas 
antry,  he  was  destined  to  disappointment. 

"We  are  all  nervous,  Cousin  Richard,  and  may  as 
well  tell  the  truth  about  it,"  said  straightforward 
Miss  Ankeroo.  "No  man  with  half  a  grain  of  real 
common  sense  would  have  asked  us  to  visit  a  rookery 
of  wild-men,  where  we  are  as  helpless  as  so  many 
children,  and  then  have  left  us  so  long  to  take  care  of 
ourselves." 

' '  The  'wild-men'  you  mention  happen  to  be  the  helpless 
children,  in  this  case,"  rejoined  Mr.  Effingham,  laugh 
ing.  "  Backed  by  Berner  and  Ambrose,  I  would  under 
take  so  to  intimidate  the  whole  Dyak  community 
around  us,  that  we  might  sack  and  burn  the  village 
without  encountering  the  flash  of  a  single  kris.  Do  me 
the  honor,  Cousin  Sadie,  of  believing,  that  even  if  our 
scientific  friends  should  remain  away  all  night,  you 
would  not  be  wholly  without  masculine  protection 
against  any  casual  outbreaking  ferocity  of  the  human 
sheep  upon  whose  fold  we  are  trespassers." 

"That's  sarcasm,  I  presume,"  answered  the  lively 
spinster,  quite  willing  to  accept  the  brunt  of  the  debate 
for  the  sake  of  its  mental  diversion  ;  "  but  cannot  one 
feel  uneasy  in  a  strange  situation  without  expecting 
murder  to  come  of  it  ?  The  way  I  look  at  the  matter 
is,  that  we  are  like  a  party  of  travelers  on  an  unfamiliar 
road,  whose  implicitly  trusted  guide  has  not  returned 
by  nightfall  from  an  undesignated  errand  of  his  own, 
for  which  he  craved  but  an  hour's  leave  early  in 
the  afternoon.  We  know  of  no  particular  danger  to 
attend  our  halt  on  the  wayside  for  the  night,  yet  none 
of  us  is  likely  to  have  much  mind  for  sleep  during  the 
experience." 

"  Comparatively  old  travelers  like  ourselves,  espe 
cially  after  nearly  a  year's  residence  in  Borneo,  should 


46G  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

not  be  so  nervous  even  as  that. — But  are  we  not  making 
altogether  too  much  ado  over  the  mere  lateness  of  two 
gentlemen  for  dinner  ?"  asked  the  head  of  the  family, 
his  mind  relieved  of  much  of  its  own  preceding  oppres 
sion  by  the  excitement  of  conversation.  He  cast  an 
amused  look  around  the  primitive  tenement  of  their 
occupation,  with  its  ceiling  of  bamboos  and  palm- 
leaves  ;  its  floor  like  a  wooden  grating  covered  with 
rattan  mats  ;  its  extemporized  partitions  and  screens  of 
Nypa  matting  ;  the  table  a  mat,  stretched  between 
bamboos  and  resting  on  shapeless  canework  chairs  ;  the 
English  candles  from  Kuchin  flaring  over  wine-bottle 
candlesticks,  and  the  polished  silver  stars  of  a  Tropical 
night  glinting  through  the  open  and  mosquito-barred 
flap  in  the  roof.  "  We  ought  to  be  reminded  by  every 
object  around  us,"  he  added,  addressing  his  hearers  gen 
erally,  "  that  the  civilized  clock  can  be  no  consistent 
criterion  of  good  faith  in  an  engagement  for  the  table 
where — " 

The  sentence  was  broken  by  the  hurried  approach  of 
Ambrose  from  the  net-curtained  doorway,  to  say  that 
a  Dyak  outside  asked  to  see  "  Tuan"  instantly. 

Had  the  arrival  of  a  commercial  dispatch  been  an 
nounced,  it  would  not  have  seemed  much  more  foreign 
to  the  local  possibility  of  things  than  this  peculiar  per 
sonal  call,  and  even  the  well-trained  Ambrose  had  been 
flurried  out  of  his  usual  deliberateness  of  professional 
service  by  its  suggestion  of  an  extreme  exigence.  Mr. 
Effingham  responded  to  it,  however,  as  promptly  as 
though  it  had  come  by  his  own  appointment ;  so  imme- 
mediately,  indeed,  as  to  leave  time  for  neither  word  nor 
look  to  his  startled  family  ;  nor  even  for  the  seizure  of 
his  hat.  For  a  moment  he  was  heard  talking  in  a  low 
tone  to  some  one,  on  the  veranda,  with  the  pauses  and 
inflections  of  a  speaker  in  a  language  awkwardly  diffi- 


NIGHTS  BRINGING  FORTH.  467 

cult  to  him,  and  then  he  appeared  to  walk  away  with 
the  quick  step  of  an  urgent  occasion.  Perhaps  five  min 
utes  had  elapsed  when  he  reappeared  to  those  who  had 
silently  awaited  the  event,  and  their  first  view  of- his 
altered  face  justified  every  apprehension  that  had  kept 
them  dumb  in  his  absence. 

Mr.  Effingham's  countenance  exhibited  a  pallor  that 
not  even  sickness  had  ever  before  given  to  it.  His 
forehead  was  beaded  with  the  cold  dews  of  precipitate 
mental  agitation,  and  at  a  sound  like  a  confused,  run 
ning  murmur  of  human  voices,  coming  abruptly  in  from 
the  hitherto  noiseless  night-air,  a  flush  passed  over  the 
whiteness  of  his  rigid  features,  to  leave  them  even 
paler  than  before. 

"  You  are  women  ;  but  not  weaker  nor  more  timid,  I 
believe,  than  I  could  wish  wife,  and  daughter  and  cousin 
of  mine  to  be,"  he  began,  looking  from  one  to  another 
of  the  paling  upturned  faces,  and  articulating  as  with 
shortened  breath.  "I  feel  that  I  may  depend  upon 
each  of  you  to  behave  with  courage  and  good  sense, 
under  a  suddenly  arising  danger  that  seems  to  menace 
us  all — to  some  degree.  The  Dyak  who  called  me  out 
just  now  is  the  old  man  of  our  afternoon's  acquaint 
ance,  and  he  thinks  that  there  are  enemies  abroad  on 
the  river  below,  who  may  design  an  attack  on  the  vil 
lage.  There  are  certainly  movements  and  sounds  of  a 
suspicious  character  on  the  water,  though  the  night  is 
too  dark  for  me  to  discern  distant  shapes.  A  lad,  in 
duced  to  go  some  distance  down  the  hillside  to  see  more, 
reports  that  a  number  of  canoes,  full  of  strangers, 
coming  from  the  direction  in  which  our  friends  went 
this  afternoon,  are  practicing  the  usual  native  manoeu 
vres  to  induce  a  demonstration  by  the  village  canoes. 
The  old  Dyak  thinks — as  nearly  as  my  small  knowledge 
of  his  language  allows  me  to  understand  him— that  the 


468  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

strangers  are  Gilolo  Illanaons,  in  the  service  of  a  Bruni 
Pangeran  whose  wife  deserted  him  lately  to  take  refuge 
with  her  father,  the  Orang-Kaya  of  this  place.  They 
are  -supposed  to  have  come  for  her  recapture,  though 
neither  she  nor  her  father  is  here." 

"Tell  us  all  our  danger,  Richard, "  entreated  the 
wife,  who,  with  her  daughter,  son  and  cousin,  had  me 
chanically  drawn  nearer  to  the  self-constraining  man, 
and  now  laid  a  hand  on  his  arm.  "  Keep  back  nothing 
from  us  that  you  fear.  Trust  our  intelligence  as  well 
as  our  courage.  Why  are  not  Doctor  Hedland  and 
Colonel  Daryl  here  ?" 

"  If  they  have  not  been  surprised  in  their  cave,  the 
river  must  be  blockaded  against  their  return.  If  they 
carried  any  firearms  with  them  they  may  be  safe  yet. 

"  I  will  talk  as  unreservedly  to  you  on  the  subject, 
my  dears,  as  I  would  to  as  many  brave  men,"  continued 
Mr.  Effingham,  speaking  more  firmly  and  rapidly, 
though  evidently  with  every  nerve  yet  on  edge  for  the 
least  new  sound  from  without. — "  Come  closer,  Berner 
and  Ambrose ;  you  have  both  heard  what  I  have  been 
saying,  and  must  listen  attentively  to  what  remains  to 
be  said.  The  ladies  are  true  grit,  you  see,  and  if  we  three 
men  find  it  necessary  to  give  the  enemy  a  wholesome 
warning  or  two  with  Dr.  Hedland 's  fowling-pieces  and 
my  own,  there  will  be  no  crying  nor  fainting  at  the  noise. ' ' 

The  Swiss  major-domo's  ordinarily  rubicund  counte 
nance  was  colorless  and  solemn,  and  around  the  negro's 
mouth,  nostrils  and  lower  eyelids  purplish-white  tints 
appeared ;  but  neither  man  exhibited  any  tremulous- 
ness. 

"I'll  do  my  duty,  sir,"  said  Berner,  and  Ambrose 
made  a  gesture  of  concurrence. 

"Papa,  you  will  not  go  down  to  the  river?"  whis 
pered  his  daughter,  breathlessly. 


NIGHT'S  BRINGING  FORTH.  469 

"Are  there  no  pistols  we  could  have  V"  asked  Miss 
Ankeroo. 

UI  shall  resort  to  what  arms  may  be  found  in  the 
Doctor's  house,  across  here,  if  there  is  any  need  for  them," 
remarked  the  sorely  discomposed  gentleman,  with  diffi 
culty  suppressing  a  start  at  an  outcry  and  a  rushing 
sound  on  the  veranda,  which  had  their  momentary  effect 
upon  the  sharpened  faces  of  all.  "  Now,  my  dears,  you 
are  doing  so  bravely  that  I  can  leave  you  for  a  few  mo 
ments  again.  Berner  and  I  will  go  and  take  observa 
tions  from  the  Doctor's  house.  Ambrose,  you  will  take 
my  fowling-piece  from  the  corner,  yonder,  and  stand 
sentry  at  this  door  until  my  return.  Understand,  all 
of  you,  my  dears,  that  there  is  no  immediate  danger  up 
here  in  the  village.  Every  means  of  drawing  our 
natives  into  a  fight  by  canoes  will  be  exhausted  before 
any  attempt  is  made  to  scale  our  refuge.  The  old 
Dyak  assures  me  that  such  is  the  invariable  custom  of 
the  villains,  unless  a  village  is  caught  sleeping.  I  am 
confident  that  we  three  men,  with  our  guns,  can  hold 
the  veranda  until  daylight,  as  they  have  no  firearms 
and  entertain  a  deadly  fear  of  them. — Ambrose,  let  no 
one  pass  the  door,  on  any  account. — Come,  Berner  !" 

Mrs.  Effingham,  pale  and  speechless,  clasped  her 
arms  about  her  husband's  neck,  kissed  him,  and  turned 
away.  Daughter  and  Cousin  succeeded  her  in  the 
same  silent  pledge  of  loyalty  and  courage  unmeasured. 

Emerging  upon  the  veranda,  Mr.  Effingham  and  his 
attendant  found  the  whole  extent  of  that  aerial  gallery 
alive  with  the  alarmed  population,  who,  in  the  undis- 
tinguishing  starlight,  seemed,  alternately,  to  swarm 
together  in  a  dense,  buzzing  mass  at  one  point  or  an 
other,  and  then  raggedly  scatter,  like  a  community  of 
ants  flurried  by  the  movement  of  some  crippled  larger 
insect  amongst  them.  Prom  the  deeper  blackness  of 


470  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

the  watery  pass  below  arose  a  confusion  of  sounds,  that 
might  have  been  compared  with  the  subdued  chattering  of 
woodland  creatures  scarcely  confident  enough  yet  to  give 
full  cry,  rather  than  with  any  familiar  clamor  of  human 
voices.  All  of  the  lights  in  the  village  were  obscured 
by  a  closing  of  doorways  and  roof-flaps,  excepting  those 
in  the  two  partitioned  cottages. 

In  a  moment  the  old  Dyak  had  come  over  the  tempo 
rary  barrier  across  which  the  master  and  servant  were 
peering,  and  reported  that  certain  of  the  younger  fight 
ing  men  rebelliously  scouted  his  delegated  authority, 
and  were  trying  to  persuade  their  fellows  to  essay  a 
battle  in  their  canoes.  The  tactics  of  a  night-attack 
were  always  the  same  :  a  comparatively  few  boats  of 
warriors  appeared  before  the  menaced  place,  to  tempt 
a  sally  by  the  besieged,  while  the  main  fleet  lay  con 
cealed  in  the  mangroves  and  reeds  behind,  to  overwhelm 
the  duped  defenders  when  they  should  have  started  to 
pursue  their  apparently  retreating  foes.  The  young- 
men  who  were  advising  a  resort  to  the  canoes  must 
have  some  traitorous  understanding  with  the  pirates  ; 
for  they  knew  very  well  that  such  a  movement  would 
almost  inevitably  end  in  defeat,  and  then  leave  the 
depleted  village  at  the  mercy  of  the  Illanaons.  Would 
not  Tuan  Hedland's  mighty  friend  command  them  to 
remain  where  they  were  ?  Of  him  they  were  afraid, 
and  they  would  obey. 

Partly  by  his  own  acquisition  of  Malayan,  and  partly 
through  the  translations  of  Berner,  who  had  become 
quite  a  master  of  the  dialects  of  Sarawak,  the  merchant 
was  able  to  understand  this  statement,  and  foreboded 
a  new  vexation  for  his  critical  position  from  such  a 
sign  of  domestic  disaffection.  It  was,  however,  with 
the  most  resolute  decision  of  manner  that  he  assumed 
immediate  absolute  commandership-in-chief,  and  au- 


NIGHT'S  BRINGING  FORTH.  471 

thorized  the  Dyak  elder  to  announce,  in  his  name,  that 
any  man  attempting  to  descend  a  ladder,  unless  so 
ordered,  should  be  shot  instantly. 

"Now,  Berner,  my  man,"  he  said,  in  a  low  voice, 
when  the  Orang-Kaya's  deputy  had  left  them,  "we 
must  make  free  with  Dr.  Hedland's  firearms.  I  have 
decided  upon  a  system  of  action,  for  the  present  at  any 
rate." 

Already  the  native  herd  on  the  far-stretching  veranda 
gave  sign  of  being  affected  by  the  order  conveyed 
through  the  old  Dyak  ;  for  the  dusky  thronging  seemed 
now  all  to  be  along  the  inner  veranda,  or  overhang  of 
the  eaves  of  the  houses.  Thus  no  figures  were  left  visi 
ble  from  below,  nor  could  any  one  attempt  a  descent  of 
the  ladders  without  timely  detection. 

Over  the  little  bridge  and  into  the  detached  cottage 
of  the  naturalist  hastened  Mr.  Eflmgham  and  the  taci 
turn  major-domo.  Both  were  familiar  with  every  detail 
of  the  interior  appointments  ;  for  neither  door  nor  win 
dow  was  ever  closed,  and  the  Doctor's  domiciliary 
policy  of  Hie  Argus  esto,  non  Briareus,  for  everybody, 
kept  perpetually  obvious  to  common  sight,  however 
prohibited  from  touch,  the  full  array  of  his  domestic 
possessions.  Xo  light  was  requisite  to  enable  the  in 
truders  to  find  a  rifle  and  a  fowling-piece,  together  with 
appurtenances  of  ammunition ;  and,  thus  armed,  the 
two  men  were  presently  standing  upon  the  veranda 
again,  listening  intently  for  any  indication  of  farther 
development  in  the  sinister  drama  of  the  night.  All 
was  as  silent  once  more  as  though  peace  and  sleep  pos 
sessed  the  whole  dimly  outlined  scene  of  their  observa 
tion  ;  the  timorous  village  host  being  mute,  for  the  time, 
and  lost  to  casual  sight  in  the  dark  shadow  against  the 
range  of  houses,  and  the  enemy  on  the  deep-sunken 
river  apparently  as  cowering  and  inactive. 


472  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  This  cannot  last  long,"  muttered  the  merchant. 
"We  must  be  prepared  for  some  savage  trick  at  any 
moment." 

"Perhaps  it  is  all  a  false  alarm,"  suggested  Berner, 
though  not  very  confidently. 

"  It  will  not  do  to  count  upon  that.  Probably  neither 
side  knows  what  to  do.  I  suspect  that  the  rascals, 
below  there,  have  looked  for  some  sort  of  treacherous 
co-operation  from  the  village  itself,  and  are  waiting  for 
it  yet." 

"If  the  Doctor  and  the  Colonel  were  only  at  home 
with  us  now,  sir,  I  think  we  'd  be  equal  to  any  number 
of  them." 

"Until  they  do  get  back,  or  are  heard  from,"  said 
Mr.  Effingham,  his  secret  misgivings  about  the  missing 
Englishmen  growing  heavier  as  he  spoke,  "we  must  keep 
a  particular  watch  upon  the  Doctor's  house.  It  is  the 
weakest  point  in  the  place,  from  having  those  storeys  so 
far  down  the  piles.  By  some  lucky  and  very  strange 
chance  the  ladders  have  all  been  taken  out  of  it  since 
morning.  Stand  here  with  your  rifle — by  this  railing — 
Berner,  while  I  return  to  see  what  should  be  done  about 
the  ladies.  Keep  your  eyes  steadily  upon  the  founda 
tion  of  the  Doctor's  house  while  I  am  away,  and  let 
nothing  distract  your  attention  from  it.  If  you  hear  or 
see  anything  moving  down  there,  call  the  Doctor's 
name,  loudly,  once ;  and  if  you  are  not  properly  an 
swered,  fire  without  hesitation.  Do  you  understand  ?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

After  casting  one  more  anxious  look  around  the 
ominously  quiet  scene  of  darkness,  the  gentleman 
shouldered  the  weapon  with  which  he  had  supplied 
himself,  and,  under  a  kind  of  desperately  protesting 
sense  of  the  unreality  of  the  situation,  went  moodily 
back  to  his  gentle  ones. 


NIGHTS  BRINGING  FORTH.  473 

They  were  rising  from  the  attitude  that  imperilled 
Christian  womanhood  ever  bows  itself  to  by  primary 
spiritual  instinct,  and  if  tears  were  in  the  eyes  of 
mother  and  daughter,  they  were  drops  from  a  tempest 
that  could  bend,  but  not  break,  them. 

"Well,  Richard?"  queried  the  wife,  scanning  his 
countenance  searchingly. 

"  Nothing  is  to  be  seen  yet,  and  your  own  ears  can 
tell  you  that  all  sounds  have  ceased." 

"  What  do  you  think  of  it  ?" 

"My  impression  is,  that  an  attack  is  certainly  in 
tended.  I  have  taken  all  the  precautions  my  judgment 
and  limited  knowledge  of  the  probabilities  can  suggest. 
The  whole  affair  is  incomprehensible  to  me  :  for  I  have 
supposed  every  part  of  the  Sarawak  valley  to  be  as  se 
cure  from  hostile  intrusion  as  London,  or  New  York. 
Here  we  are,  however,  in  a  Dyak  village  about  to  suffer 
a  piratical  night-assault,  and  must  be  ready  to  meet  any 
emergency  with  such  coolness  and  common  sense  as  we 
can  command.  Get  on  your  hats  and  wrappers,  all  of 
you,  so  that  if—" 

A  shout  from  Berner,  a  brief  interval  of  absolute 
silence,  and  then  the  report  of  the  rifle,  caused  Mr. 
Effingham  to  dash  through  the  doorway  again  ;  and, 
by  a  common  impulse,  requiring  no  verbal  explanation, 
the  whole  family  hastened  after  him. 

As  though  the  shot  had  been  a  preconcerted  signal  to 
dissolve  the  spell  of  silence  and  of  night,  its  ringing 
reverbations  among  the  hills  had  not  ended  before  an 
appalling  uproar  of  inhuman  yells,  crash  of  gongs  and 
clatter  of  wooden  drums  arose  from  the  gulf;  and, 
simultaneously,  the  latter  became  redly  radiant  with 
fires  of  bark  soaked  in  cocoanut  oil,  alight  at  several 
points  on  the  little  bluff  near  the  water,  and  scores  of 
rude  torches  flaming  on  as  many  canoes  upon  the 


474  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

stream  itself.  With  answering  clamors  the  people  of  the 
village  rushed  to  the  railed  verge  of  the  lofty  veranda, 
flourishing  krisses,  parangs,  sumpitans,  and  other  bar 
barous  weapons.  Through  the  interstices  of  the  great 
palm-leaves  down  the  jungled  slope  occasional  glimpses 
could  be  caught  of  wild  figures  in  fantastical  costume, 
moving  stealthily  from  the  obscuration  of  one  tree- 
trunk  to  that  of  another  ;  and,  between  the  vast 
Nypas  and  over  the  mangroves  along  the  bank,  the 
illuminated  river  was  a  maze  of  fiery  flecks,  alive  with 
perpetually  moving  and  bellowing  monkey-heads  in 
savagely  furred  and  feathered  caps,  and  tossing,  brass- 
ringed  arms,  flourishing  a  cloud  of  shields  flashed  with 
bared  kris  and  sumpitan  spear-head. 

The  eldrich  vision,  the  fiendish  din,  made  the  women 
and  child  recoil  involuntarily  towards  the  shelter  they 
had  left :  their  incongruous  presences  suggesting  an 
unwonted  apparition  of  beings  from  a  nobler  world, 
pausing  in  half-flight  upon  a  bridge  of  awful  shadows 
spanning  Hades  and  thronged  with  the  lost. 

"  What  did  you  fire  at,  Berner  ?"  Mr.  Effingham 
asked,  mechanically  ;  scarcely  realizing,  in  the  distrac 
tion  of  such  an  ominous  spectacle,  that  the  others  had 
followed  him. 

"  Something  moved  amongst  the  piles  down  below, 
sir.  I  called  out,  as  you  told  me,  and  then  drew  trig 
ger,"  returned  the  brave  Switzer,  raising  his  voice  to 
be  heard  above  the  stentorian  clamor. 

At  this  moment  a  noise  upon  the  veranda  itself,  mag 
nified  by  overwrought  nerves  into  a  frightful  crash, 
caused  every  eye  in  the  thrilled  group  to  stare  fearfully 
in  that  direction.  Two  dim  shapes  had  summarily 
forced  a  way  through  the  barrier  on  the  side  opposite 
to  that  which  demarcated  the  main  body  of  the  village, 
and  came  on  with  such  headlong  celerity  as  to  run  upon 


NIGHT9 S  BRINGING  FORTH.  475 

the  very  muzzles  of  the  guns  precipitately  levelled  at 
them. 

"Thank  God,  we  are  here  in  time  I" 

"In  the  devil's  name,  what  can  it  all  mean  V" 

Thus,  simultaneously  and  characteristically,  sounded 
the  two  voices  in  the  world  which  their  amazed  hearers 
could  have  wished  most  eagerly  to  be  greeted  by, — the 
voices  of  the  naturalist  and  his  friend,  the  Colonel. 

"  Thank  God,  indeed,  that  we  see  you  alive,  once 
more,  gentlemen  !"  ejaculated  the  chief  of  the  defend 
ers,  with  devout  emphasis.  "I  have  apprehended  a 
worse  disaster  for  you  than  has  thus  far  fallen  upon 
ourselves.  How  did  you  escape  those  wretches  on  the 
river  ?" 

"  They  stole  our  boat  while  we  were  in  the  cave.  We 
had  to  return  by  the  mountains,  and  have  been  hours 
about  it,"  puffed  the  Doctor,  fatigue  and  excitement 
contending  in  his  wheezy  tones. 

"The  ladies  must  be  got  away  from  here  immedi 
ately,"  panted  the  Colonel,  in  hurried  accents.  "This 
is  no  time  for  talk,  gentlemen  ;  we  must  take  them  to 
the  hill-top,  where  they  were  this  morning." 

"I  shall  not  leave  my  father's  side,"  said  a  girl's 
voice,  high  and  resolute. 

But  farther  conversation  was  prevented  by  a  sudden 
shrill  shout  of  "  Api !"— Fire  !  —  by  the  Dyaks,  who, 
like  their  Fabian  besiegers,  had  abruptly  discontinued 
their  outcries  and  gesticulations  for  the  last  two  or 
three  minutes. 

Leaning  far  over  the  bamboo  rail  at  the  edge  of  the 
veranda,  Hedland  and  the  other  men  gazed  anxiously 
down  through  the  palm  fronds  for  explanation  of  the 
alarm. 

"  By  all  the  powers  of  Satan  !  they  are  building  a 
fire  under  my  house,"  exclaimed  the  Doctor.  "  Here  ! 


476  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A 

where  are  the  guns  ?  Quick,  now  ! — give  me  that  piece, 
Berner I" 

He  snatched  the  weapon  from  the  major-domo  as  he 
spoke,  and  fired,  without  bringing  to  shoulder,  into  a 
certain  glow  now  showing  itself  between  the  roots  of 
the  piles  on  which  his  too-many-storyed  cottage  was 
uplifted.  The  American  fired  also,  and  again  the  air 
resounded  with  discordant,  furious  cries. 

"  They  keep  at  it  yet,  Lawrence,"  called  Daryl,  peer 
ing  down  at  the  point  of  danger  from  the  other  side  of 
the  little  connecting  bridge,  with  a  cocked  pistol  in  his 
hand. — "Ah,  I  see  now! — they  have  brought  up  a 
canoe  from  the  water,  and  are  holding  it,  bottom  up 
ward,  over  their  heads." 

u  That  is  an  old  trick  with  the  villains,  to  keep  off 
missiles  from  above  while  they  work,"  cried  the  Doctor, 
handing  back  his  gun  to  Berner  for  reloading.  "Unless 
we  can  get  a  bullet  through  the  canoe  they  will  not  be 
lieve  that  they  can  be  reached.  This  may  turn  out 
seriously,  Mr.  Effingliam,"  he  added,  somewhat  flur- 
riedly.  "  If  the  house  is  fired  the  village  must  go  !  We 
should  lose  no  time,  now,  in  hurrying  the  ladies  to  a 
safer  place,  as  a  precaution ;  for— Halloo  !" 

Scurrying  out  of  the  house,  across  the  bamboo  bridge, 
and  to  the  verge  of  the  veranda,  in  a  reckless  haste  as 
though  the  threatened  fire  was  already  at  their  heels, 
came  Cherubino  and  the  negro,  Ambrose  ;  the  latter 
swinging  out  gingerly  before  him,  by  his  finger-tips,  a 
small  keg,  thrust  half-way  into  a  forced  opening  in  one 
end  of  which  the  lad  was  holding  a  twisted  sheet  of 
flaming  paper. 

The  Doctor's  exclamation,  the  rush  of  small-boy  and 
African  with  this  curious  burden,  the  hasty  launching  of 
the  latter,  with  its  projecting  flame,  over  the  veranda 
rail,  and  a  combined  mad  dash  of  Doctor,  Colonel,  Mer- 


NIGHT'S  BRINGING  FORTH.  477 

chant  and  Major-domo,  with  insanely  outspread  arms, 
against  the  trio  of  ladies — were  coincident  movements 
of  the  same  second  of  time  ;  the  next  second  being  sig 
nalized  by  the  striking  of  the  descending  lighted  keg  on 
a  projecting  timber  of  the  lowest  floor  of  the  detached 
house,  and  an  ensuing  "  burst  of  thunder-sound  "  that 
sent  a  racking  tremor  through  the  whole  village. 

"That'll  astonish  them!"  carolled  the  thoughtful 
boy,  in  an  ecstacy  with  a  noise  beyond  his  fondest 
hopes,  and  capering  delightedly  in  a  momentary  up- 
welling  of  pungently  sulphurous  smoke. 

"I  do  think  it's  blown  every  soul  of  them  out  of 
sight — boat  and  all!"  announced  Berner,  who,  rather 
abashed  at  his  precipitancy  in  the  late  electrical  act  of 
chivalry,  was  the  first  back  at  the  railing  to  observe  the 
effect  of  the  gunpowder's  explosion. 

"  You  little child  !  it  is  a  wonder  we  are  not  all  in 

Eternity  !"  sputtered  the  naturalist,  irascibly  embar 
rassed  at  having  behaved  with  so  little  dignity  in  a 
crisis. 

When  the  ladies  had  been  fairly  whirled  into  their 
cottage  again  b}*-  the  abrupt  and  instinctively  protective 
onset  of  their  momentarily  crazed  defenders,  Mr.  Effing- 
ham  and  Colonel  Daryl  remained  long  enough  with 
them  to  explain  what  had  happened,  and  express  them 
selves  quite  bitterly  upon  the  maddening  capabilities  of 
boyhood. 

Nevertheless,  the  boy's  act  was  a  fortunate  inspira 
tion.  The  explosion  of  the  keg — about  half  full  of  pow 
der — summarily  ended  the  fire-kindling  attempt,  that 
must  otherwise,  almost  inevitably,  have  set  the  whole, 
tinder-like  village  in  flames.  Apparently,  too,  the  ter 
rific  detonation  paralyzed  the  occupants  of  the  cluster 
ing  canoes  on  the  river :  for  their  demoniac  uproar  was 
completely  hushed  by  the  crash. 


478  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"The  scoundrels  will  make  a  charge  for  us  now — it 
is  their  last  resource,"  growled  Dr.  Hedland,  when  his 
two  friends  rejoined  him.  "  That  must  be  the  meaning 
of  the  commotion  amongst  them  down  there." 

He  advanced  quickly  to  the  barrier  on  the  veranda 
over  which  the  old  D}rak  had  climbed,  and,  by  a  vigor 
ous  exertion  of  his  powerful  arms  and  shoulders,  pushed 
a  part  of  it  down.  Since  the  explosion,  the  villagers, 
no  less  startled  than  their  enemies,  had  fallen  back  once 
more,  in  panic-stricken  confusion,  to  the  entrances  of 
their  houses,  and  the  murky  light  from  below  shone 
only  on  the  bamboo  railing  at  the  outer  verge. — 

"  Have  your  guns  ready  foi  the  first  head  that  ap 
pears  above  a  ladder !" 

But,  instead  of  the  expected  final  desperate  rush  from 
the  canoes,  that  would  have  been  attempted  far  earlier 
if  internal  treachery  had  aided  the  attack,  or  the  vil 
lage  had  been  caught  asleep,  it  was  seen  that  the  torches 
on  the  boats  were  being  hurriedly  extinguished,  and 
paddles  began  flashing  where  lights  yet  flared. 

As  the  armed  men  bent  anxiously  over  the  railing  to 
watch  this  inexplicable  flurry,  a  strange,  voluminous 
shout  from  a  place  obscured  from  them  down  the  stream 
startled  them  more  than  any  sound  they  had  yet  heard, 
and  there  followed  instantly  a  sharp  train  of  cracking 
reports,  under  which  every  lingering  torch  went  out  and 
a  confusion  of  unearthly  yells  arose. 

"Musketry,  by  Heaven!"  exclaimed  Daryl,  hurry 
ing  past  the  broken  barrier  to  a  point  where  the  down 
ward  view  was  less  obstructed  by  trees. 

"  The  savages  cannot  have  muskets,"  suggested  the 
American,  who,  with  Hedland  and  the  two  stanch 
serving-men,  had  followed. 

"The  savages  ?— No  !  but  Englishmen!"  cried  the 
naturalist,  in  a  frenzy  of  excitement.  "Hear  that, 


NIGHTS  BRINGING  FORTH  479 

again!"  at  another  crackling  outburst,  attended  with 
lightning-like  flashes  in  the  nether  gloom,  fainter  yells, 
and — unmistakable  English  cheers! — "What  miracle  is 
this  ?" 

Between  bewilderment  at  the  astounding  change  in 
the  scene,  and  an  inexpressible  sense  of  relief,  at  recog 
nizing  in  it,  by  instinct  rather  than  from  immediate 
visual  evidence,  an  end  of  the  barbarous  perils  which 
had  menaced  them,  the  several  members  of  the  little 
party  became  temporarily  light-headed.  Never  after 
wards  were  they  able  to  recall  exactly  the  order  of  the 
events  following  the  last  volley  on  the  so  swiftly 
redeemed  river.  There  was  a  new  vision  of  illumina 
tion  on  boats  and  forms  joyfully  familiar  to  civilized 
eyes,  beyond  the  low-distant  Nypas  and  mangroves  ;  a 
noisy  outpouring  of  the  villagers  again  to  the  veranda's 
edge — with  a  number  of  flaming  lamps,  this  time  ;  a 
hurrying  forth  of  the  three  ladies,  in  hats  and  wrap 
pers,  to  be  ready  for  the  previously  suggested  retreat 
to  the  hill-top  of  the  pitcher-plants,  should  the  new 
tumult  mean  fresh  danger ;  and  a  shrill  hurrah  from 
the  omnipresent  small-boy  in  answer  to  the  reverberat 
ing  cheers  of  a  body  of  sailors  scrambling  up  the  slope 
amongst  palms  and  bushes, 

The  first  figures  to  reach  the  foot  of  the  village  ladders 
were  those  of  Dyaks,  and  Doctor  Hedland  dropped  his 
gun  with  an  angry  exclamation  when  their  ascent  had 
revealed  that  they  were  the  Orang-Kaya  and  his  four 
henchmen. 

"  Pa  Jenna  !    Is  this  your  friendship  for  me?" 

"See,  Tuan !"  returned  the  chieftain,  drawing  from 
beneath  his  jacket  a  spear-head,  and  pointing  at  it  with 
an  emphasizing  forefinger.  "  This  is  what  Makota  sent 
to  the  village  by  the  traitor  Sejugah.  My  runner  from 
Patusen  told  me  of  its  coming,  and  I  surprised  the 


480  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

wretched  son  of  my  father's  brother  bringing  it  secretly 
here  in  his  canoe  last  night.  Tuan  knows  its  mean 
ing."* 

"It  means  that  a  rebellious  uprising  was  expected 
here,"  said  the  naturalist,  in  accents  of  surprise.  "  Have 
we,  then,  rebels,  yet,  in  Sarawak  ?" 

"  Sejugah  has  friends — and  I  know  them  !"  answered 
the  Orang-Kaya,  throwing  a  scowling  glance  in  the  di 
rection  of  the  listening  swarm  of  villagers.  "I  knew, 
Tuan  Hedland,  that  the  Pangeran's  canoes  would  follow 
fast  after  the  spear-head,  and  that,  with  traitors  among 
us,  we  must  have  help  from  Tuan  Besar," 

"From  Kuchin  ?"  ejaculated  the  Doctor,  in  added 
amazement ;  taking  but  mechanical  note  of  many  new 
figures  rising  upon  the  veranda  by  all  of  its  ladders. 

"  From  Kuchin — yes,  Tuan.  I  knew^that  the  canoes 
would  be  here  to-night,  and  that  here  was  not  an  hour 
to  spare.  I  went  with  my  men  to  the  Bugis  prahu  of 
Tuan's  sirani  friends,  and  forced  the  Bugis  rayah  to 
sail  at  once  for  Kuchin.  There  I  saw  Tuan  Besar,  and 
told  him  all,  and  showed  him  the  spear-head.  He  could 
not  come  himself,  for  there  has  been  a  horrible  murder 
of  his  friends  in  Bruni  by  Makota,  and  he  must  sail 
thither ;  but  he  asked  Tuan  Officer  and  men  from  the 
ships  to  come  back  with  me." 

"In  other  words,"  sounded  a  second  voice,  in  Eng- 
glish,  as  the  speaker  stepped  out  from  a  shadowy  knot 
of  last-appearing  blue-jacket's  ;  his  epaulet  gleaming  in 
the  lamplight  as  he  did  so  ;  "—in  other  words,  the  pin 
nace  and  cutters  of  Her  Majesty's  Ship,  Oressy." 

*  The  timely  discovery  of  this  spear-head  ended  the  last  attempt  of 
Makota's  adherents  to  excite  sedition  against  Rajah  Brooke  in  Sarawak. 
Such  an  article,  conveyed  stealthily  from  one  village  to  another  and  se 
cretly  displayed  to  the  local  insurrectionary  characters,  was,  like  the 
Fiery  Cross  in  Scotland,  a  signal  for  revolt  in  Borneo. 


FORBEARANCE  IS  THE  DIGNITY,  ETC.       481 

"  It  is  Edwin  !"  cried  Colonel  Daryl,  starting  forward 
to  grasp  his  nephew's  extended  hand ;  while,  under  a 
similar  enthusiastically  welcoming  impulse,  the  natural 
ist  and  the  Americans  moved  eagerly  after  him.  "  My 
dear  boy,  this  crowns  a  wonderful  day  for  you  and  my 
self!" 

"  The  beggars  did  not  wait  long  enough  after  the 
first  volley  for  us  to  distinguish  ourselves  much,"  re 
turned  the  modest  Lieutenant ;  innocently  thinking  his 
uncle  inclined  to  overrate  his  prowess  on  the  occasion, 
but  not  hesitating,  in  the  general  congratulations,  to 
retain  Abretta's  trembling  hand  as  protractedly  as 
though  she  had  extended  it  to  him  in  special  token 
of  his  having  rendered  heroic  service  to  her  particu 
lar  self. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

FORBEARANCE  IS  THE  DIGNITY  OF  MIGHT 

THE  consummate  moral  ascendancy  of  the  Rajah  of 
Sarawak  over  the  heterogeneous  subjects  of  his  princi 
pality  had  no  more  suggestive  illustration  than  was 
presented  daily  by  his  court  of  Justice.  Preceding 
European  dignitaries  in  Asia,  whether  of  India  proper, 
or  the  Archipelago,  had  deemed  it  necessary  to  invest 
their  every  function  of  authority  with  a  princely,  or  at 
least  a  military,  pomp  of  circumstance,  calculated  to 
impress  the  Oriental  imagination  with  an  exalted  sense 
of  both  splendor  and  invincibility  in  the  power  it  em 
blazoned.  But  the  frank  manliness  of  James  Brooke 
would  have  none  of  this  ostentation  of  regal  affluence, 


482  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

or  might,  in  a  dominion  to  which  he  had  come  in  a 
yacht,  and  over  which  he  had  ever  disdained  to  rule  by 
the  tyranny  of  arms.  Pride,  without  vanity,  is  the 
soul's  honest  instinct  of  justice  to  itself,  and  he  had  a 
firm  pride  in  abstaining  as  much  from  the  sign  as  from 
the  reality  of  militant  assumption,  in  a  position  glorious 
to  his  ambition  only  as  he  had  won  and  might  hold  it  as 
a  fearless  missionary  of  practical  and  beneficent  Chris 
tian  civilization.  Thus,  his  court  was  simply  a  tribunal 
of  democratic  justice,  wherein,  while  all  due  forms  of 
true  magisterial  dignity  were  strictly  observed,  and  even 
some  of  the  native  traditions  of  courtly  ceremony 
heeded,  no  imposing  display  of  royal  retinue,  or  trap 
pings,  met  the  eye. 

At  the  farther  end  of  the  long,  central  saloon,  or  hall, 
traversing  the  Government  House  ;  upon  English  arm 
chairs  of  the  plainest  practical  pattern  ;  sat  the  Rajah 
and  two  of  his  principal  European  subordinates — Mr. 
Ruppel,  a  tall,  slender  Englishman  and  chief  of  staff, 
on  the  right  hand,  and  Mr.  Williamson,  secretary  and 
interpreter,  on  the  left.  Ranged  on  either  side  of  these, 
in  the  orders  of  their  respective  ranks,  upon  a  divan 
against  the  wall,  were  the  Bandhara,  or  traditional 
Malayan  vizier,  the  Tumangong,  or  Admiral  of  the 
Port,  and  a  Patinghi  of  the  Dyaks.  Before  the  Rajah 
and  his  aides  stood  a  table  formerly  belonging  to  the 
saloon  of  the  yacht  Eoyalist.  Half-way  down  either 
side  of  the  room  extended  a  divan  for  the  accommoda 
tion  of  privileged  visitors ;  and  the  remainder  of  the 
apartment,  furnished  only  with  a  flooring  of  mats,  lay 
open  to  suitors  and  general  spectators.  Two  members 
of  the  sparse  body-guard,  in  loose  blue  dresses  and  hats 
of  plaited  rattan,  stood  guard  at  the  door,  while  a  few 
others  were  scattered  at  intervals  within  to  serve  as 
police.  Tall  windows,  used  also  as  doors  and  hung 


FORBEARANCE  IS  THE  DIGNITY,  ETC.       483 

with  silken  portieres  of  the  national  yellow  hue,  ad 
mitted  light  from  as  many  short  passage-ways,  which 
ran  between  flanking  offices  to  the  open  veranda. 

Such  was  the  usual  aspect  of  a  practically  imperial 
court  that,  in  less  than  five  years,  had  redeemed  a 
whole  province  of  twelve  thousand  souls  and  twenty 
different  tribes  from  the  most  brutalizing  injustice  that 
ever  degraded  its  helpless  victims  into  mere  soulless 
beasts  of  burden.  To  European  eyes  it  looked,  at  first 
glimpse — with  the  three  Englishmen  at  the  table,  the 
native  magistrates  on  their  divans,  and  the  throng  of 
Malays,  Dyaks  and  Chinamen,  in  their  several  native 
costumes,  in  the  body  of  the  room— like  one  of  the  fre 
quent  pictures  of  representatives  from  one  civilized 
power,  or  another,  discussing  treaties  with  semi-barba 
rians  in  the  rude  council-chamber  of  some  primitive 
Asian  state. 

And  such,  too,  was  its  appearance  on  the  day  after 
the  departure  of  the  Bugis  prahu  and  its  American  pas 
sengers  for  the  Dyak  village  ;  save,  only,  that  the  sur 
geon  of  the  household,  Doctor  Treacher,  sat  in  place 
of  Williamson.* 

The  Rajah,  who  had  returned  but  that  morning  from 
a  visit  to  his  opium  plantation,  nine  miles  away,  knew 
little  yet  of  the  news  brought  by  ships  arriving  in  his 
absence,  and  was,  therefore,  unprepared  for  an  episode 
that  interrupted  the  ordinary  routine  of  his  tribunal. 
An  aged  Chinaman,  with  a  too  just  grievance  against  a 
Malayan  creditor,  had  bowed  to  the  floor  in  gratitude 
for  the  judgment  in  his  behalf,  and  another  humble 
suitor  was  coming  reverentially  forward  in  his  turn, 
when  there  pushed  hastily  through  the  motley  crowd  of 


*  This  unfortunate  gentlemen  had  lost  his  life  shortly  before  by  the  ac 
cidental  overturning  of  his  canoe. 


484  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

witnesses  and  lookers-on  a  woman,  whose  face  was  cov 
ered,  in  the  Mahometan  fashion,  and  who  led  by  the  hand 
a  Malay  lad  in  the  fez  and  embroidered  dress  of  a  Pan- 
geran?s  follower. 

Hurrying  in  advance  of  the  Chinaman's  slow  succes 
sor,  the  two  importunate  ones  prostrated  themselves 
abjectly,  like  true  Orientals,  with  a  passionate  cry  from 
the  wroman — 

"  Justice,  great  Rajah  !     Justice  !" 

The  Chief  of  Staff  and  the  Surgeon  exchanged  swift 
glances,  and  then  furtively  watched  their  chief,  as 
though  anxious  to  note  his  manner. 

At  a  signal  from  the  Bandhara,  two  of  the  guards 
stepped  silently  forward  and  were  about  to  remove  the 
headlong  intruders,  at  least  until  their  hearing  should 
follow  in  due  order  ;  but,  at  the  touch  of  a  hand  on  her 
shoulder,  the  woman  sprang  to  her  feet  again,  dragging 
the  passive  boy  with  her. 

"Justice!"  she  cried  again,  extending  her  clasped 
hands  towards  the  table.  "  Justice,"  Tuan  Besar,  for 
my  murdered  sister!" 

Something  familiar  in  the  young  Malay's  face  made 
the  Rajah  gaze  at  him  earnestly  for  a  moment  before 
addressing  the  suppliant : 

"Who  are  you,  woman  ?" 

"I  am  Amina,  the  daughter  of  Pa  Jenna.  My  sis 
ter,  Inda,  has  been  murdered  at  Bruni  by  Pangeran 
Makota !" 

"At  Bruni  ?— Makota,  did  you  say?"  asked  the 
Rajah,  quickly,  with  another  glance  at  the  boy.  "  What 
do  you  mean  ?  Is  this  youth  from  Bruni  ?" 

"Speak,  Japper  !"  commanded  the  veiled  figure,  al 
most  fiercely,  turning  upon  her  hitherto  passive  com 
panion.  "You  have  that  for  Tuan  bBesar  which  will 
prove  what  I  say  !' 


FORBEARANCE  IS  THE  DIGNITY,  ETC.      485 

Advancing  timidly  to  the  table,  without  raising  his 
eyes  to  the  faces  of  those  sitting  there,  the  Malay  boy 
placed  before  the  Rajah  the  signet-ring  entrusted  to  him, 
for  such  return  to  its  original  owner,  by  the  devoted 
Budrudeen. 

"Justice,  TuanBesar!"  resounded  the  impassioned 
appeal  once  more — "Justice  against  Makota,  the 
Serpent,  who  has  killed  Budrudeen  and  Muda  Hassim !" 

An  outcry  rang  through  the  court-room  from  the 
native  throng  thus  first  hearing  the  murderous  news 
brought  the  night  before  by  the  ship  Hazard ;  and  even 
the  foreign  listeners,  who  had  caught  something  of  it 
earlier,  could  not  refrain  from  smothered  exclamation. 

With  such  a  whitening  of  face  and  twitching  of  lip  as 
his  officers  had  never  known  him  to  show  before, 
under  any  agitation,  Rajah  Brooke  slowly  raised  the 
ring  that  told  him,  silently,  all  the  story  of  Makota's 
revenge  upon  his  friends,  and  placed  it  deliberately  upon 
the  finger  it  had  encircled  before  the  fight  at  Bruni. 

"What  ships  are  here  from  Singapore,  Mr.  Ruppel?" 
he  asked,  in  English,  of  his  right-hand  companion. 

"  The  Cressy  and  the  Phlegethon  came  in  last  night, 
3>-our  Excellency,  not  three  hours  behind  the  Hazard.'''' 

He  nodded,  slightly,  apparently  in  satisfaction  at  the 
information,  and  when  his  face  turned  again  to  the 
daughter  of  Pa  Jenna,  an  iron  sternness,  as  unwonted 
as  its  previous  pallor,  had  settled  upon  it. 

"Why  is  it,  Amina,  that  Japper  has  sought  you, 
first  ?"  he  inquired. 

"  Tuan  Besar  was  not  here  when  he  came  from  the 
ship,  and  he  heard  that  Inda's  sister  was  in  Kuchin," 
replied  the  woman,  like  a  speaking  statue. 

The  Rajah  fixed  his  flashing  eyes  upon  the  boy, 
in  final  readiness  for  the  ghastly  story  he  already 
grasped  in  its  generalities. 


486  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  Japper,  tell  me  all  that  you  have  to  tell." 

What  that  was— the  miserable  tale  of  the  Sultan's 
imbecile  superstition,  Makota's  audacious  usurpation, 
and  the  catastrophe  ensuing — need  not  be  repeated  here 
in  detail.  At  its  conclusion  the  great  English  friend  of 
the  Bruni  martyrs  arose  summarily  from  his  chair, 
without  a  word,  and,  motioning  for  Mr.  Kuppel  and  the 
surgeon  to  follow,  led  the  way  to  a  private  apartment ; 
the  native  magistrates  and  spectators  bowing  low  at  the 
sight,  and  the  woman  and  the  boy  mutely  disappearing 
through  the  quickly  dispersing  crowd. 

Never  before  in  its  history  had  the  court  been 
allowed  to  experience  any  visible  disturbing  effect  from 
convulsions  of  the  Borneo  state.  The  present  excep 
tion  informed  the  simplest  cognizant  mind,  that  its 
special  tragic  occasion  affected  the  Rajah  more  power 
fully  than  had  the  most  trying  previous  outrage  of 
piratical  Shereef,  or  dastard  Pangeran.  Soon  the  whole 
town  was  aware  of  the  cruel  drama  that  had  been 
enacted  in  the  Sultan's  disordered  capital,  and  all  the 
able-bodied  population  took  to  sampan  and  canoe,  for 
curious  observation  of  anticipated  energetic  goings  and 
comings  between  the  Grove  and  the  waiting  English 
vessels  of  war. 

The  tidings  brought  by  the  Malay  boy  had,  in 
deed,  struck  to  the  deepest  heart  of  the  ruler  of 
Sarawak,  exciting  in  him  a  mingled  grief  and  indig 
nation  that  put  all  his  power  of  self-control  to  the 
severest  test.  The  two  only  friends  whom  he  had 
found  stanchly  true  among  the  native  princes,  were  dead 
at  the  treacherous  hands  of  his  most  implacable  enemy 
• — dying  because  of  their  inflexible  fidelity  to  him  and 
to  his  Queen.  Noble  Budrudeen,  especially,  had  been 
to  him  as  princely  Jonathan  to  the  son  of  Jesse ;  and 
the  traitorous  foe  hounding  him  to  a  terrible,  if  heroic, 


FORBEARANCE  18  THE  DIGNITY,  ETC.      487 

death,  was  the  man  whose  own  venomous  life  the  friend 
of  Budrudeen  had  spared  for  this  I  The  puerile  Sultan, 
whose  ignorant  folly  and  witless  timidity  had  suffered 
the  audacious  miscreant  to  begin  the  great  crime  in  his 
very  presence,  had  thereby  broken  faith,  treaty-pledged, 
with  Great  Britain,  no  less  than  with  himself;  and 
there,  on  the  waters  of  the  Sarawak,  were  the  British 
armed  ships  wherewith  Sarawak's  Rajah  and  Eng 
land's  Agent  to  Borneo  could,  within  three  days,  lay 
blood-stained  Bruni  in  ruins  and  erect  an  English 
kingdom  to  the  memory  of  Muda  Hassim  and  Budru 
deen! 

"I  shall  start  for  Bruni  to-night,"  said  the  Rajah, 
when  he  and  his  two  followers  had  arrived  in  a  side 
apartment  usually  devoted  to  the  transaction  of  per 
sonal  business.  u  You  will  issue  orders  to  that  effect, 
Ruppel,  and  represent  me  here  in  my  absence." 

"  Can  your  Excellency  be  ready  for  such  an  expedition 
so  soon?"  asked  the  chief  of  staff,  with  uplifted  eye 
brows. 

"  It  is  but  a  question  of  the  time  that  it  will  take  the 
Phlegethon  to  get  into  sailing  order  again.  She  must 
have  refitted  at  Singapore,  and  cannot  require  many 
hours  to  be  in  trim  for  going  on,"  replied  the  Rajah, 
pausing,  with  folded  arms,  before  a  window  through 
which  the  vessel  he  had  named  was  visible.  "I  hope 
she  has  no  sickness  on  board,  to  cause  delay. — That  is 
what  I  desired  to  ask  you  about,  Doctor." 

"All  well  on  board,  I  believe,  your  Excellency,"  re 
ported  Doctor  Treacher;  "and  on  tbe  Cressy  and  the 
Hazard,  also." 

"  But  surely  you  will  not  go  with  the  Phlegethon, 
alone  ?  She  is  a  mere  gunboat,"  urged  Ruppel,  forget 
ting  official  etiquette  in  contemplation  of  what  seemed 
to  him  the  last  exaggeration  of  temerity. 


488  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  I  would  take  no  other  ship  than  my  own  schooner, 
were  it  not  obligatory  upon  me  to  go  no  less  as  a  repre 
sentative  of  the  British  government  than  of  myself," 
was  the  resolute  answer.  "  I  tell  you,  gentlemen,"  con 
tinued  the  Kajah,  turning  quickly  to  face  them  both, 
and  extending  his  clenched  right  hand  in  sympathetic 
gesticulation,  "I  could  wish  to  walk  singly  and  alone 
from  the  Sultan's  wharf  to  the  palace,  and  there  take 
by  the  yellow  throat,  before  his  doltish  sovereign  and 
all  the  pangerans  of  Bruni,  the  base  wretch  whose 
thrice-forfeited  life  I  once  spared,  when  he  was  my 
prisoner  on  this  very  Phlegethon,  scarcely  more  than  a 
year  ago.*  But  Makota  will  not  await  me — no  hope  of 
that !  I  shall  have  to  deal  only  with  the  driveling 
dotard  of  the  imperial  musnud,  and  should  be  less  noble 
than  my  cause  to  need  a  squadron's  guns  for  the  hum 
bling  of  such  craven  impotence  as  his.  Mr.  Euppel, 
you  will  see  that  the  proper  arrangements  are  made  for 
my  departure.  I  perceive  that  the  officers  are  coming 
from  the  ships  again  to  visit  us  ;  we  will  return  to  the 
hall." 

Words  were  never  multiplied  by  his  subordinates 
when  he  spoke  in  this  decisive  tone.  Chief  of  staff  and 
Surgeon  followed  him  silently  back  to  the  court,  now 
serving  as  a  reception-chamber — as  it  would  be  used  yet 
later  in  the  day  for  a  dining-room — and  there  took  their 
parts  in  welcoming  the  captains  and  lieutenants  of  the 
three  latest  men-of-war  in  the  stream. 

It  was  during  this  reception  that  the  impatient  Pa 
Jenna  finally  gained  the  interview  for  which  he  had  been 
waiting  several  precious  hours,  and  secured  the  eagerly 
volunteered  help  from  the  Cressy  that  has  been  de- 


*  During  the  Expedition  with  Captain  Keppel  against  the  Sakarran 
pirates,  in  August,  1844. 


FORBEARANCE  IS  THE  DIGNITY,  ETC.       489 

scribed  as  proving  of  such  timely  value  to  the  besieged 
village.  The  exhibition  of  the  intercepted,  ominous 
spear-head,  and  the  Orang-Kaya's  explanation  of  the 
danger  threatening  the  supposed  hiding-place  of  Amina, 
would  have  induced  the  Rajah's  own  leadership  of  a 
rescue  at  any  other  hour  than  that  in  which  the  blood 
of  his  slaughtered  champions  had  just  called  to  him 
for  signal  remembrance.  As  it  was,  the  prompt  offer 
of  men  and  boats  for  the  occasion  by  the  commander 
of  the  frigate,  and  Lieutenant  Belmore's  unhesitating 
entreaty  and  acceptance  to  be  the  chief  of  the  expedi 
tion,  relieved  all  minds  of  any  serious  dread  for  the 
issue  of  an  affair,  that  the  firearms  known  already  to  be 
in  good  hands  at  Leda  Tanah  should  be  almost  suffi 
cient  to  end  at  its  beginning. 

The  Cressy's  young  officer  and  his  sturdy  blue 
jackets  were  well  on  their  way  up  the  river  with  the 
returning  Bugis  prahu,  when  the  historic  little  Phleg- 
ethon,  long  familiar  in  these  and  the  Chinese  waters, 
unfurled  her  so  lately  reefed  canvas  to  the  cool  even 
ing  breezes  of  the  Sarawak,  and  started  for  the  sea. 
The  two  other  ships  of  war  at  the  anchorage  joined  in 
the  parting  salute  of  cannon  at  the  Rajah's  wharf ;  the 
bosom  of  the  stream  was  alive  with  native  boats, whose 
occupants — English,  Malay,  Chinese  and  Dyak — waved 
fluttering,  many-hued  emblems  of  loyal  speeding  ;  and 
from  the  veranda  of  "The  Grove,"  and  the  deck  of 
frigate  and  .prahu,  burst  a  roar  of  cheers  for  Tuan 
Besar — the  Great  Man — who  was  never  greater  than  in 
forbearing  to  be  the  greatest. 


CHAPTEE 

BETWEEN   TWO   WORLDS. 

OUT  of  the  shadowy  coolness  and  fitful  perturbation 
of  a  year's  sojourn  amongst  the  mountains  of  Borneo, 
into  the  sunny  glare  and  commonplace  activities  of 
Singapore,  was  an  emergence  for  the  American  family 
like  that  from  one's  curtained  bedchamber,  on  a  cloud 
less  summer  morning,  after  a  night's  incalculable  span 
of  all  the  dear  delusions  and  mocking  frights  of  dream 
land,  into  the  broad  light  and  familiar  realities  of  re 
newed  social  existence.  As  in  visionary  sleep  the  most 
closely  assimilated  characters  of  earlier  waking  hours 
have  their  clearly  distinctive  individualizations,  even 
though  the  brooding  of  some  common  physical  peril 
may,  ultimately,  influence  all  to  the  one  culminating 
impression  of  dread  ;  so  each  member  of  the  adventur 
ous  household  had  undergone  a  certain  separate  mental 
effect  from  the  dream-like  Borneon  experience,  before 
the  final  unison  of  sensibility  to  an  impending  actual 
horror  made  all  of  one  mind  in  the  delight  of  awaking 
in  Singapore  again. 

Mrs.  Effingham  looked  back  upon  her  first  meeting 
with  the  husband  of  Caroline  Dornton,  and  the  ensuing 
tacit  conflict  between  a  generously  humble  spirit  of 
reparation  and  an  invincibly  wounded  Pride,  in  an  ever 
resuming  reverie  of  self-questioning  as  to  whether  their 
actuation  of  herself  would,  or  would  not,  have  been  to 
wiser  effect  if  she  had  at  once  dared  more  ?  Abretta 
did  not  so  much  recall  in  detail  her  own  so  tardily 
recognized  growth  into  a  feeling  instinctively  reserved 
490 


BETWEEN  TWO  WORLDS.  491 

from  confession  even  to  her  tender  mother,  as  secretly 
and  half-misgivingly  wonder  at  herself  that  its  vague 
aggregate  left  her  a  heart-revealing  child  no  longer. 
Cousin  Sadie  thought  of  her  year  in  the  marginal  wil 
derness  as  an  ideal  experiment,  happily  remote  from 
censorious  worldly  criticism,  to  prove  whether  woman 
can,  or  cannot,  be  more  than  man's  complement  in  the 
elevation  of  their  common  race  ;  and  was  privately 
convinced  by  the  result  that  Borneo,  at  any  rate,  re 
quired  missionaries  of  the  male  sex — who,  by  the  way, 
might  have  wives.  Mr.  Emngham  retained  an  impres 
sion  of  vast  commercial  practical  possibilities  for  the 
great  Island,  in  the  immediate  future  development  of 
which  he  hoped  to  interest  his  fellow-countrymen  and 
have  some  share  himself ;  but  he  doubted  that  even  the 
English  Kajah's  noble  work  of  redemption  had  yet 
made  even  the  beautiful  Sarawak  valley  a  place  to  be 
unreservedly  commended  for  the  residence  of  Christian 
families.  Master  Cherubino's  memories  were  as  of  an 
anticipated  unexampled  Menagerie,  wherein,  upon  in 
nocently  sanguine  visitation,  every  leading  wonder  of 
natural  history  was  found  to  be  phenomenally  scarce  ; 
and  Berner  and  Ambrose  agreed  with  their  youthful 
superior,  that  the  concluding  gratuitous  display  of  fire 
works  and  heroic  naval  demonstration  were  the  most 
successful  features  of  the  show. 

But  all  these  varying  personal  impressions  merged  in 
a  single  conclusion  from  the  episode  of  the  Dyak  village 
— that  it  was  good  to  be  back  safely  on  the  highway  to 
a  civilized  world  once  more ;  and  a  compensation  for 
every  misadventure,  that  Colonel  Daryl  and  his  nephew 
had  so  marvellously  regained  their  long-lost  warrants 
of  a  just  inheritance. 

For  it  had  been  told  to  the  astonished  and  heartily 
gratified  family,  before  the  departure  from  Sarawak, 


492  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

that  Doctor  Hedland's  acumen  had  really  tracked  the 
expatriating  purloiner  of  the  precious  papers  to  the 
cave  on  Mount  Tubbang  whither  he  had  finally  betaken 
himself  in  his  weary  wanderings  from  Sambas,  and 
there  discovered  the  last  Will  and  missing  title-deeds 
of  the  Colonel's  grandfather  in  the  recess  of  an  ancient 
Hindoo  altar.    From  the  somewhat  disordered  condition 
of  things  immediately  following  the  attempt  of  Mako- 
ta's  emissaries  on  the  village— Sejugah's  body  being 
found  beneath  the  Doctor's  shattered  house  with  a  rifle- 
ball  in  the  brain,  and  other  ghastly  indications  occur 
ring  elsewhere  up  the  stream — it  had  not  been  deemed 
judicious  to  take  the  visitors  to  the  fateful  cave  itself; 
but  Hedland  minutely  recited  to  them  Medlani's  reve 
lation  ;    modified  only  by  making  it  trace  the  poor 
madman,  alone,  from  Sambas  to  Tubbang ;  and  was 
sufficiently    modest    under    the    encomiums    lavished 
upon   the   ingenuity  he   had  shown  in  attaining  such 
an  amazing  practical  result  from  a  clue  so  ambiguous. 
The  warped,  embittered  nature  of  the  older  of  the 
two  men  benefited  by  this  surprise  of  fortune,  has  been 
lately  shown  in  an  already  curiously  softened  aspect. 
Colonel  Daryl  could  scarcely  have  explained  to  himself 
exactly  why,  upon  being  thrown  again  unexpectedly 
into  the  company  of  people  whose  every  associative 
suggestion  had  previously  irritated  him  to  a  climax  of 
supposedly  farewell  defiance,  he  experienced  a  sudden 
inclination  to  deprecatory  peace-making.   Truth  to  con 
fess,  he  was  unconsciously  influenced  thereto  by  nothing 
more  difficult  of  definition  than  the  hope,  howsoever 
faint,  that  had  been  stirred  in  his  breast  by  the  last 
discovery    of  the    naturalist.      He    would    not    have 
acknowledged  to  his  own  practical  judgment  that  he 
felt  the  slightest  degree  of  actual  faith  in  his  old  friend's 
theory  of  the  importance  of  the  Arab  priest's  story  to 


BETWEEN  TWO  WORLDS.  493 

his  pecuniary  fortunes  ;  yet  to  his  instinctive,  even  if 
unwitting,  sympathy  with  that  very  theory,  was  due, 
unquestionably,  his  sudden  disposition  to  resent  less 
acutely  than  before  the  asperities  which  fate  had  im 
posed  upon  him.  Then,,  when  he  and  his  nephew  were 
in  Singapore  once  more,  with  the  Effinghams,  after  all 
doubts  of  the  final  beneficence  of  Fortune  for  him  were 
dissipated,  what  more  equably  mild-tempered  English 
gentleman,  to  every  one,  than  he  ! 

Of  all  the  fallacies  of  sound  that  ever  strove,  by  sheer, 
insensate  pertinacity,  to  overwhelm  the  honest  verities 
of  sense,  is  there  one  more  often  asserted  and  less  really 
believed  than  that  the  acquisition  of  riches  is  an  evil  ? 
To  every  rational  craving  of  human  nature  this  con 
summation  is  so  much  the  highest  human  good — as 
giving  the  greatest  effectiveness  to  every  good — that 
the  uncontrollable  sensibility  of  the  loftiest  spirits 
to  some  phase  of  its  temptation  is  perpetually  induc 
ing  inconsistencies  between  professed  principle  and 
involuntary  practice,  by  which  the  saintliest  types  of 
character  are  made  to  appear  as  practically  sordid  as 
the  worst.  Is  the  spire  of  a  Church  the  less  a  growth 
from  eager  money-getting  than  the  dome  of  a  Stock 
Exchange  ?  Are  the  benevolent  ambitions  of  the  mar 
tial  patriot  and  the  light-giving  sage  altogether  regard 
less  of  that  ultimate  incidental  attainment  of  the 
universal  potentialities  of  wealth  which  the  narrow- 
sighted  creature  of  avarice  makes  the  avowed  sole  first 
and  last  purpose  of  his  life  ?  What  meaning  has  Phil 
anthropy  in  pauper  form  ?  Associate  the  noble  terms, 
Benevolence,  Generosity,  Charity  exclusively  with 
empty  purses — and  what  beneficent  signification  would 
they  have  for  the  improvident,  the  impoverished,  the 
starving  ?  And — be  it  reverently  said — how  unspeak 
ably  different  would  it  have  been  for  fallen  mankind,  if, 


494  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

in  place  of  the  Crown  of  Thorns,  the  incarnate  brow 
Divine  had  received  from  a  believing  and  a  loyal  world 
a  Crown  of  Gold  ? 

Omnipotent  wisdom  allows  earthly  riches  to  be  the 
chief  of  rewards  for  earthly  endeavor ;  all  other  com 
pensations  being  but  impotent  inutilities  if  wholly  lack 
ing  them  ;  and  the  native  nobilities  which  their  posses 
sion  makes  potent  for  a  benign  munificence  in  noble 
natures,  work  immeasurably  more  good  for  the  race 
than  can  ever  be  malignly  counterbalanced  by  the 
meannesses,  imbecilities  and  vices  it  intensifies  in  ig 
noble  minds. 

Thus,  a  man  whose  youth  had  been  profoundly  embit 
tered  by  a  humiliating  injustice  ;  a  stern  soldier  whose 
mature  inner  life  had  been  perverted  to  seek  welcome 
distraction  even  in  a  seemingly  hopeless  quest :  found 
his  harshest  memories  suddenly  turning  gentle,  and  his 
sardonic  cynicisms  transmuting  as  quickly  into  the  mel 
lowest  of  social  susceptibilities,  upon  coining  at  last, 
almost  as  by  miracle,  into  the  long-denied,  affluent 
inheritance  of  his  fathers.  There  was  a  generous  bless 
ing  in  the  change  that  his  whole  nature  tacitly  acknowl 
edged  and  was  gratefully  sweetened  by.  His  nephew, 
who  had  known  only  the  casual  abnegations  which  are 
a  day's  despair  and  a  month's  disremembrance  to  the 
young,  was  scarcely  less  surprised  than  charmed  at 
the  genial  transformation ;  not  apprehending  what  it 
was  for  unsuccessful  manhood,  consciously  past  its 
prime,  first  to  see  a  future  as  apparently  irredeemable 
as  the  past  had  been  fatally  a  mistake,  and  then  to 
have  revealed  to  it,  in  a  moment,  that  the  kindly  old 
world  held  some  good  for  it  yet.  His  friends  paused 
not  in  their  gratification  at  the  change  to  analyze  its 
philosophy  ;  but  certainly  no  one  thought  of  attributing 
it  to  a  sordid  soul's  mere,  vulgar  delight  in  selfish  gain. 


BETWEEN  TWO  WORLDS.  495 

This  much  is  said  in  explanation  of  Colonel  Daryl's 
altered  manner,  not  only  to  the  Effinghams,  but  to  all 
the  world,  during  the  last  days  at  Singapore  ;  because, 
with  all  his  worldly  experience  and  haughtiness  of 
usual  bearing,  he  had  really  yet  a  certain  soldierly  sim 
plicity  of  character  that  made  his  successive  moods  as 
obvious  as  a  boy's,  and  as  devoid  of  any  tact  against 
others'  misjudgment.  If  conciliatory  and  even,  finally, 
chivalrously  assiduous  to  the  mother  and  daughter  dur 
ing  their  common  unexpected  sojourn  at  the  Dyak 
village,  he  was  unreservedly  cordial  with  the  whole 
family  when  all  came  together  once  more  in  the  City  of 
the  Straits  ;  and  even  gladly  accepted,  for  himself  and 
Belmore,  the  American  merchant's  invitation  to  a  voy 
age  on  the  Comanche  as  far  as  Calcutta,  whither  it  was 
his  professional  dut}^  to  repair  before  carrying  his  recov 
ered  treasures  back  to  England,  and  where  the  family 
desired  to  tarry  for  a  few  days  on  their  own  homeward 
way. 

"  I  like  to  think  of  it  all  as  a  fairy-tale,  and  give  full 
scope  to  the  fancy  that  you  and  I  are  the  fortunate 
Princess  and  Prince  in  it,"  whispered  Edwin  to  Abretta, 
as  the  youthful  pair,  significantly  thus  neglected  to 
gether,  walked  slowly  back  and  forth,  side  by  side,  on 
the  upper  balcony  of  "  The  Straits."  It  was  after  din 
ner,  in  the  soft,  amethystine  twilight,  and  the  pretext 
to  the  elders,  conversing  within,  had  been,  to  look  for 
Biela's  double  comet. 

"  Only,  in  a  fairy-tale  there  should  be  some  malevo 
lent  giant,  or  spirit,  or  monster,  to  triumph  in  the 
distressful  part,  and  be  signally  overthrown  at  last," 
murmured  Abretta. 

"  That  is  an  awkward  deficiency,"  confessed  the  light- 
hearted  young  sailor,  "  unless  we  can  make  something  of 
Makota,  and  that  blundering  attack  on  the  village." 


496  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"  But  that  was  not  intended  for  us,  at  all,  you  know. 
Doctor  Hedland  told  Papa  that  the  Illanaons  would 
never  have  dared  to  come  into  the  Sarawak  if  they  had 
not  believed  that  even  he  was  absent  at  the  time." 

"Yes,  I  suppose  it  must  have  been  so  ;  those  yellow 
fellows  are  surprising  cowards  when  bullet  or  shot 
rattles  amongst  them.  But  the  horrible  affair  at  Bruni 
had  emboldened  them,  and  they  might  have  managed 
at  least  to  fire  your  village  on  masts,"  suggested  Edwin 
Belmore,  disconcerted  to  find  the  value  of  his  own  ex 
ploit  dwindling  more  and  more. 

"  You  came  in  time  to  prevent  that,"  said  the  girl, 
her  tone  more  eloquent  than  her  words. 

"  If  we  could  only  have  caught  them  trying  to  scale 
the  piles  !"  ejaculated  her  companion,  implying  his  keen 
regret  that  she  had  not  a  more  heroic  service  to  recall 
in  that  fervent  voice.  "Well,  at  any  rate,  none  of  you 
came  to  harm,  thank  (Sod ! — "We  must  not  forget  our 
fairy-tale,  though.  We  must  have  the  regulation  Evil 
Genius  for  it.  Poor  old  Kuadh  might  serve,  in  a  way,  I 
suppose. — But,  no  1  he  was  a  martyr  to  a  crazed  idea  of 
fidelity  to  his  master's  interest ;  and  that  makes  him  a 
kind  of  a  hero  :  doesn't  it  ?  Suppose  we  take  Doctor 
Hedland's  Ape  for  our  implacable  Monster. " 

"That  seems  to  be  a  rather  desperate  resource," 
laughed  Abretta.  "  Besides,"  she  added,  more  gravely, 
"  your  Uncle  shows  almost  as  much  sense  of  bereave 
ment  as  Doctor  Hedland,  at  the  loss  of  the  poor  ani 
mal." 

"  Do  you  know,  I  'm  half  ready  to  believe  that  Uncle 
Will  is  infected  with  the  Doctor's  heathen  theory  of 
the  humanity  of  orang-outans  ?"  said  Edwin,  reflec 
tively.  ' '  He  shows  such  extraordinary  feeling  in  mak 
ing  any  reference  to  the  curious  death  of  the  Ape  in 
our  patrimonial  cave.  The  Doctor  and  he  arc  both 


BETWEEN  TWO  WORLDS.  497 

very  sparing  of  words  as  to  that  bit  of  zoological  trag 
edy  ;  they  barely  tell  how  it  happened,  and  then  plainly 
want  to  drop  the  subject.  " 

"  I  'm  afraid  your  fairy-tale  must  go  without  a  Mon 
ster,  then." 

They  were  pausing,  face  to  face,  at  the  end  of  the 
balcony  remotest  from  the  combination  of  mat-hung 
door  and  window,  opening  from  the  room  in  which  were 
their  kindred.  Faint  stars  sprinkled  the  dusky  alti 
tudes  of  the  balmy  evening  hour ;  the  row  of  palms 
before  the  house  lifted  dark  fronds  above  the  railing, 
but  not  so  high  that  the  lights  kindling  on  the  shipping 
of  the  Roads  could  not  be  seen  far  beyond  them. 

"Perhaps  we  are  not  thinking  at  all,  dear  Abretta, 
of  the  really  most  remarkable  part  of  our  story,"  re 
marked  the  Lieutenant,  availing  himself  of  the  deep 
ening  shadows  to  gaze  unreservedly  at  the  charming 
profile  her  face  presented  in  its  look  at  the  lights. 
"  Felonious  abstractions  of  Wills  have  been  common 
enough  ;  such  a  half-witted  creature  as  Ruadh  was  far 
more  likely  to  have  an  unreasoning  instinct  for  first  fol 
lowing  his  master  to  Holland  with  the  stolen  papers, 
and  then  taking  wild  flight  farther  away  from  the  Eng 
lish  overtaking  he  feared,  than  to  have  pursued  any 
other  course,  in  the  circumstances.  To  the  Dutch 
dependency  of  Java,  whither  mail-steamers  and  troops 
were  then  frequently  going,  was  his  most  obvious  direc 
tion  of  escape  from  Amsterdam  ;  and,  quitting  Batavia 
under  terror  of  British  invasion,  he  would  as  naturally 
reach  the  Dutch  settlements  of  Sambas,  in  Borneo,  as 
any  other  immediately  attainable  refuge.  I  have  not  yet 
heard  from  Uncle  "Will  all  the  details  of  the  unfortunate 
fellow's  sufferings  in  the  wilderness  and  discovery  of  the 
cave  ;  but  can  imagine  easily  enough  the  natural  logic 
of  that  and  the  sequel.  Then  Doctor  Hedland's  chance- 


498  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

hearing  of  the  Arab  priest's  tale  of  the  Sambas  'Antu,' 
and  all  that,  was  only  a  lucky  accident  in  our  favor, 
and  his  shrewd  idea  of  having  a  part  of  the  fallen  roof 
dug  away  was  characteristic  of  his  scientific  habits  of 
investigation." 

"But  what  could  have  become  of  the  poor  maniac 
himself?"  asked  Abretta,  in  youthful  unwillingness  to 
have  no  mystery  left  in  the  romance. 

"He  must  have  died,  of  course,  dear.  Uncle  Will 
and  the  Doctor  don't  say  anything  about  that ;  they  take 
it  for  granted,  I  suppose.  As  I  was  going  to  say,  though, 
all  this  business  about  the  lost  papers  is  less  amazing  to 
my  mind,  than  that  Uncle  Will  should  have  been  your 
Aunt's  husband  and  had  such  an  awful  time  of  it.  Can 
any  one  imagine  such  a  man  as  concerned  in  a  tragedy 
of  sentiment  like  that  ?" 

"Now  I  see  where  you  are  going  to  find  the  Evil 
Genius  of  your  fairy-tale,"  returned  Abretta,  quickly. 

"No,  dearest  girl,"  said  the  young  man,  as  quickly, 
"I'll  not  be  less  just  than  my  Uncle  himself,  who 
says  that  his  own  thoughtless  imprudence  justly  sub 
jected  him  to  all  that  he  suffered." 

Meanwhile  the  Uncle  in  question  was  saying  to  his 
American  friends,  as  they  sat  talking  amicably  together 
in  the  rooms  of  the  hotel : — 

"  I  shall  not  relinquish  my  profession.  My  whole  life 
is  molded  to  it  and  I  am  too  old  for  a  change.  Edwin, 
however,  is  more  adaptable  to  altered  circumstances, 
and  will  readily  resign  his  commission  to  assume  the 
less  precarious  and  more  important  duties  of  a  man  of 
property.  Our  faithful  friend  the  Governor,  here,  has 
kindly  tendered  his  good  offices,  in  addition  to  those  of 
the  Captain  of  the  Cress?/,  with  the  Admiral ;  so  that 
my  nephew  may  venture  to  accompany  me  at  once  to 
Calcutta.  When  in  England,  I  hope  to  negotiate  an 


BETWEEN  TWO  WORLDS.  499 

exchange  for  myself  from  the  Indian  service  into  that 
nearer  the  ancestral  home,  where  Edwin  must  repre 
sent  the  family  for  both  of  us. ' ' 

"  You  anticipate  no  legal  difficulties,  Colonel,  in  the 
re-establishment  of  your  rights  ?"  queried  Mr.  Effing- 
ham. 

"  The  lawyers  here  assure  me  that  there  can  be  none. 
The  sworn  attestations  of  all  the  witnesses  to  the  will 
are  sufficient  to  authenticate  it  beyond  a  doubt,  though 
I  shall,  of  course,  secure  Hedland's  affidavit." 

"  And  your  half-uncle's  son  ?" 

"  Has  no  claim  whatever.  But  what  the  law  does 
not  give  him  our  sense  of  moral  justice  shall  concede. 
Edwin  and  I  are  heartily  agreed  upon  that." 

Only  the  two  gentlemen  and  the  ever  undemonstrative 
Mrs.  Effingham  were  in  the  room  at  the  time ;  Miss 
Ankeroo  having  retired  immediately  after  dinner  to  the 
private  business-office  of  the  hotel,  to  read  some  late 
American  and  English  newspapers  by  the  light  early 
burning  there,  taking  Cherubino  with  her.  As,  besides 
being  the  American  merchant's  immediate  host,  the 
proprietor  of  "The  Straits"  was  also  his  commercial 
correspondent,  the  whole  hotel  was,  in  a  manner,  per 
manently  free  to  the  family.  Cousin  Sadie,  at  least, 
with  her  usual  practical  philosophy,  felt  no  hesitation 
in  acting  upon  Mr.  Dodge's  thoughtfully  courteous  sug 
gestion,  that  the  customary  privacy  of  the  retired  little 
apartment  in  question  might  afford  her  a  convenient 
resort  at  any  time  when  she  desired  to  write  a  letter,  or 
read  anything,  without  the  distracting  adjacency  of 
young  people  with  romances.  Accordingly,  in  the  pri 
vate  office  she  was  now  bestowed,  for  a  fragmentary 
half-hour's  perusal  of  the  last  news  from  either  side  of 
the  Atlantic  ;  Cherubino  coiling  in  a  chair  beside  her, 
and  falling  immediately  asleep  from  the  exhaustions  of 


500  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

a  day  spent  in  every  known  activity  of  the  boyish  frame 
to  shorten  life  between  meals. 

Presently  a  deprecatory  knock  sounded  on  the  door, 
and,  in  response  to  the  lady's  summons  of  admittance, 
there  entered  Mr.  Dodge,  bringing  another  newspaper. 

"  Excuse  the  liberty,  Miss  Ankeroo,"  pleaded  the  in 
truder,  with  a  bow,  after  a  sharp,  inquisitive  glance  at 
the  slumbering  boy.  "Looking  over  this  copy  of  the 
London  Times  just  now,  I  found  something  that  I  think 
may  interest  you,  as  an  American.  An  account  of  the 
distinguished  success  of  Charlotte  Cushman  at  the 
Princess  Theatre,  in  the  play  of '  Fazio. '  Miss  Cush 
man  comes  from  our  side  of  the  water,  you  know." 

"Very  kind  in  you,  sir,  I'm  sure,"  the  spectacled 
fair  one  answered,  rather  stiffly  and  without  any  motion 
to  take  the  paper.  "  I  know  that  there  is  such  a  person 
as  Miss  Cushman,  but  take  no  interest  in  theatrical 
affairs  of  any  description." 

The  lively  countenance  of  Mr.  Dodge  lost  some  of  its 
native  confidence,  at  this  chilling  hint  that  his  tact  had 
made  an  unfortunate  mistake  in  forgetting  that  an  ex- 
missionary  might  not  indulge  an  enthusiasm  for  the 
drama.  It  was  but  a  moment,  however,  before  his 
hazel  eyes  were  vivaciously  illuminated  by  a  timely 
second  thought : 

' '  But  '  Fazio  '  is  the  work  of  a  clergyman,  you  see — 
Milinan  ;  author  of  a  History  of  Christianity  and  other 
respectable  games  of  that  character.  It  occurred  to  me 
that  this  circumstance  might  make  the  occurrence  seem 
less  wicked,"  concluded  the  host  of  "the  Straits,"  to 
whom  the  apt  literary  recollection  was  really  the  inspi 
ration  of  the  moment. 

"I'll  look  at  the  paper,  thank  you,"  said  Miss  An 
keroo,  with  a  barely  visible  relaxation  at  the  corners  of 
her  handsome  lips.  "  I  do  sincerely  wish, Mr.  Dodge, 


BETWEEN  TWO  WORLDS  501 

that,  in  leaving  this  part  of  the  world,  we  could  carry 
away  with  us  the  memory  of  at  least  one  serious  speech 
by  yourself." 

"You  shall!"  returned  he,  with  startling  assent, 
simultaneously  lifting  into  the  air,  by  its  arms,  the  wide 
wicker  chair  in  which  reposed  the  small-boy,  and  with 
as  noiseless  celerity  depositing  it  again  on  the  mat. 
Seemingly  a  casual  experiment  to  prove  whether  the 
sleep  of  the  child  could  sustain,  unbroken,  a  movement 
so  repugnant  to  nature,  the  muscular  effort  was  really  a 
device  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  the  sleep  in  question 
was  but  a  shrewd  simulation  not  always  repugnant,  by 
any  means,  to  the  nature  of  a  small-boy. 

"  You  shall  remember  at  least  one  serious  speech  of 
mine,  Miss  Ankeroo,"  asserted  Mr.  Dodge,  with  indu 
bitable  earnestness,  "and  that  is,  that  I  am  up  to  my 
eyes  in  Love — "  the  lady  started—"  in  Lover's— Samuel 
Lover's — 'Handy  Andy,'  you  know,"  he  hurried  on, 
with  miraculous  presence  of  mind,  "to  divert  my 
thoughts  from  the  realization  of  the  departure  of  your 
self  and  party  to-morrow.  Nothing  unbalances  the 
distressed  mind  like  a  comic  novel.  While  you  were  all 
in  Borneo  I  had  the  comfort  of  feeling  that  something 
of  my  country  was  near  me  ;  it  was  like  your  being  in 
Boston,  with  myself  in  New  York." 

"  I  consider  Boston  the  first  of  American  cities,"  re 
marked  the  gentle  New  Englander,  flushing  slightly. 

"  Oh  !  you  forget,  Miss  Ankeroo — not  quite  the  first, 
is  it?  There's  Albany,  you  know.  First  'A',  and 
then  '  B '.  Of  course  you  mean  alphabetically  ?" 

"  It 's  of  no  consequence,  sir,"  was  the  frigid  reply. 
"We  shall  all  be  gratified  to  know  that  you  regret 
us." 

"  Loneliness  scarcely  expresses  what  will  be  my  por 
tion,  until  the  arrival  of  a  cage  of  monkeys  that  I  am 


502  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

daily  expecting  from  the  Archipelago,"  murmured  poor 
Dodge,  in  perfect  good  faith,  leaning  desolately  upon 
the  back  of  Cherubino's  chair.  "  There  '11  be  nothing 
to  divert  my  thoughts  from  melancholy.  Can  nothing  " 
— desperately—"  induce  you  to  remain  in  the  East  In 
dies,  Miss  Ankeroo  ?" 

"  Why,  certainly  not." 

"  Couldn't  /offer  any  inducement  ?"  (Very  timidly 
and  humbly— for  him.) 

"  Oh,  not  at  all,  Mr.  Dodge." 

"  I  mean,  of  course,  in  the  way  of  first-class  hotel  ac 
commodations,"  (presence  of  mind  again)  "  with  a  fine 
view  of  the  sea  and  in  close  proximity  to  several  ortho 
dox  churches.— However,  if  your  mind  is  made  up,  I  '11 
not  dwell  upon  the  merits  of  Singapore  as  a  place  of  resi 
dence  for  the  season,  and  have  the  honor  to  bid  you  a 
very  good  evening." 

"With  which  extremely  ingenious  perversion  of  a  real 
sentimental  crisis  into  an  apparently  commonplace  illus 
tration  of  a  hotel-proprietor's  naturally  polite  urgency 
for  continued  patronage,  Mr.  Dodge  retreated  in  good 
order. 

Early  on  the  morning  following  these  several  symp 
tomatic  scenes  of  colloquy  in  a  story  now  nearing  its 
close,  a  boat  so  small  that  it  barely  afforded  space  for 
two  passengers  and  a  Coolie  paddler,  passed  under  the 
last  bridge  of  the  city  across  the  narrow,  shallow,  Sin 
gapore  Eiver,  and  entered  between  the  weedy  banks  of 
a  suburb  rolling  in  a  succession  of  picturesque  minia 
ture  hills.  One  of  the  passengers,  in  a  blue  serge  suit 
of  European  fashion  and  a  Panama  hat  of  wide  dimen 
sions,  was  saying  to  the  other,  whose  coat  and  cap  were 
military  fatigue— 

"  Any  one  who  knows  the  man  would  have  expected 
just  such  news.  Attended  only  by  the  Captain  and 


BETWEEN  TWO  WORLDS.  503 

Lieutenant  of  the  little  Phlegethon;  without  so  much 
as  a  guard  of  marines  ;  he  landed  in  that  den  of  hyenas 
as  though  it  had  been  our  old,  hospitable  Devonport, 
and  marched  straight  up  to  the  palace.  Of  course  that 
snake  of  a  heathen,  Makota,  had  taken  to  the  moun 
tains  at  first  sight  of  the  flag  in  the  river ;  but  who  else 
than  Brooke  would  have  ventured  in  that  way  into  a 
town  of  treacherous  savages,  where  a  dozen  of  his 
friends  had  just  been  butchered  in  an  anti-English  coup 
d'etat  f" 

"  I  think  he  would  sooner  loose  his  own  life  than 
avenge  what  he  considers  a  personal  wrong,  by  arms, 
in  Borneo,"  remarked  the  other. 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it.  Only  against  pirates  and  their 
immediate  abettors  will  he  fight ;  or  to  put  down  '  head 
hunting.  '  He  might  be  assassinated  on  any  day  of  the 
year,  in  Sarawak,  for  all  the  precautions  he  takes  to 
prevent  it." 

"  And  what  was  the  result  at  Bruni?  " 

"  The  Captain  of  the  Phlegethon  reports,  that  the 
Sultan  cringed  at  his  rebuke  in  the  most  pitiably  abject 
style,  and  agreed  to  repair  forthwith,  attended  by  his 
whole  court  and  body-guard,  to  the  graves  of  Muda 
Hassim  and  the  others,  and  render  royal  honors  to  the 
injured  shades.  The  moral  effect  of  the  ceremony,  so 
peremptorily  compelled,  is  equal  to  a  victorious  battle 
for  the  Rajah,  they  say." 

"  James  Brooke  is  indeed  a  great  man!"  ejaculated 
the  soldier.  "  Saint  and  savage  may  unite  in  that  title 
for  him." 

Here  the  boat  stopped,  at  signal  from  him  of  the 
Panama  hat,  beside  a  knoll  rising  at  the  stream's  edge, 
and  the  Englishmen,  stepping  ashore,  looked  at  each 
other  significantly. 

"I  brought  him  here  with  me,  Daryl,"  said  the 


504  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Doctor,  in  a  low,  deliberate  tone,  as  they  paused  a  mo 
ment  before  ascending  ;  "  because  some  of  the  villagers 
could  not  have  been  trusted,  in  my  absence,  not  to  have 
disturbed  the  remains  for  the  sake  of  the  head.  That 
barbarism  is  strong  in  the  best  of  the  Sea-Dyaks  yet." 

"I  understand,  Lawrence. — But  the  others  ?" 

"  They  are  safe  until  the  Judgment  under  the  bank  of 
fallen  earth  that  gave  them  merciful  sepulchre.  Super 
stition  invests  the  cave  now,  more  than  ever,  with 
supernatural  terrors,  which  will  protect  it  permanently 
from  all  native  profanation." 

"  Poor  Kuadh !"  sighed  Daryl,  as  they  moved  up  the 
knoll.  "What  a  fate!" 

The  ascent  was  easy  and  short ;  and  on  the  summit, 
between  overshadowing  palms  and  bordered  by  luxuri 
ant  undergrowth,  was  a  newly  defined  mound,  of  that 
length  and  breadth  which  tell  ever  but  one  sad  tale. 

"  I  wanted  you  to  see  where  I  had  placed  him,  Will, 
before  you  went  away.  Between  you  and  myself  rests 
the  dread  secret  of  what  he  was.  Here  we  will  leave 
him,  midway  between  the  Heathen  and  the  Christian 
worlds ;  himself  the  awful  link  between  Man  as  God 
made  him  and  the  irretrievably  fallen  Man." 

There  was  planted  at  the  head  a  small  granite  slab, 
such  as  the  Chinese  use  in  their  burial-grounds,  and 
upon  it,  without  date  or  epitaph,  was  inscribed  : 


O'SHAWNESSY. 


CHAPTEK  XXIX. 

SHE  TELLS  ALL. 

BOUND  for  the  Bay  of  Bengal  and  the  Hoogly,  her 
lofty  towers  of  canvas  snowy,  or  delicately  shading  each 
other,  in  the  full-orbed  moonlight,  and  her  long,  dark 
hull  gliding  rhythmically  below,  like  the  condensed 
shadow  of  all,  the  stately  Comanche  traversed  silvery 
waters  in  Malacca  Strait,  with  Penang  Island  on  her 
starboard  and  Point  Diamond  on  her  larboard  side. 

Thus  far  were  the  voyagers  on  their  way  to  a  port 
where  two  of  them  were  to  part  from  the  others  ;  and 
each  hour  that  lessened  the  distance  thither  had  drawn 
closer  together  by  instinctive  feeling,  whether  con 
sciously  or  not,  the  uncle  and  nephew  destined  to  homes 
in  the  Old  World  and  the  family  returning  to  theirs  in 
the  Kew. 

Occupying  chairs  triangularly  placed  near  the  copper 
stanchions  guarding  the  skylight  of  a  cabined  saloon 
below,  the  merchant,  his  wife  and  Colonel  Daryl  enjoyed 
the  serene  light  and  tranquillizing  quietude  of  the  spot 
less  after-deck,  where  the  occasional  plash  of  the  cool 
waves,  thrown  back  in  softened  consonance  by  echoing 
sail,  but  lulled  their  thoughts  more  luxuriously  to  what 
soever  came  by  casual  circumstance  to  contemplation 
or  remark.  -  ^&i 

"Why  does  not  Cousin  Sadie  join  us,  my  dear?" 
asked  Mr.  Effingham,  when  he  and  the  Colonel,  by 
request  more  than  permission  of  the  lady,  had  ignited 
their  segars. 

505 


506  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"Now  that  'Bino  is  disposed  of  for  to-night,  she 
is  at  her  Dictionary  of  Hindostanee,  again,  probably, 
to  be  ready  for  India,"  replied  the  wife,  half-laugh- 
ingly. 

"  Our  Cousin  is  always  our  first  interpreter  in  foreign 
places,"  said  the  merchant  to  his  English  friend. 
"  When  others  study  maps,  she  devotes  herself  to 
lexicons." 

UA  feminine  counterpart  of  Hedland,  in  that  respect," 
remarked  the  Colonel;  "he  is  an  insatiable  linguist." 

"  Is  Doctor  Hedland  likely  to  return  soon  to  Europe?" 
inquired  Mrs.  Effingham. 

"He  proposes,  I  believe,  madame,  first  to  visit  his 
brother  in  Lombok,  who  is  a  great  dignitary  there." 

"And  his  theory  in  regard  to  miases  has  gone  the  way 
of  Lord  Monboddo's,  I  presume,"  said  Mr.  Effingham. 
"After  the  cruel  death  of  his  ape  I  heard  him  say  no 
more  on  that  subject.  It  was  always  curious  to  me, 
that  a  man  of  his  general  practical  tendencies  and  views 
should  become  an  enthusiast  over  a  proposition  having 
no  proofs  which  could  not  be  construed  as  well  to 
demonstrate  the  converse  of  itself.  And  then,  at  the 
first  serious  discredit  to  its  speculative  assumptions, 
his  whole  theory  apparently  fell  to  pieces.  At  least,  I 
so  judged  from  the  suddenness  with  which  he  ceased  to 
talk  about  it." 

"With  all  his  eccentricities  and  positivisms  of  the 
moment,  Doctor  Hedland  is  an  invincibly  honest  man," 
returned  the  Colonel,  guardedly.  "Let  him  perceive 
that  he  has  assumed  too  much  as  assured  in  any  given 
argument,  and  he  will  make  no  sophistical  effort  to 
cover  his  retreat." 

"  He  certainly  prevented  our  retreat  from  the  Dyak 
village,"  rejoined  Mr.  Effingham,  who  was  really  not 
much  interested  in  what  he  supposed  to  have  been  a 


SHE  TELLS  ALL.  507 

mere  scientific  aberration.  "When  you  and  he  made 
your  appearance  to  us  at  last,  that  night,  Colonel,  on 
the  veranda,  I  had  virtually  decided  that  the  time  was 
come  for  a  retreat  with  my  women  and  children  across 
the  bridge  to  the  hilltop.  You  may  imagine  the 
strain  upon  my  nerves  from  the  consciousness  of  my 
responsibility  for  the  safety  of  so  many  helpless  ones, 
whom  I  had  brought  to  such  a  barbarously  unfitting 
place,  and  whose  ignorance  of  the  ways  of  the  savages 
menacing  us  was  scarcely  greater  than  my  own." 

"In  your  place,  sir,  I  should  have  retreated  to  the 
hilltop  even  earlier,  perhaps.  Hedland  and  I  fully 
appreciated  the  critical  nature  of  your  situation  with 
the  ladies,  when  we  realized,  from  the  disappearance  of 
our  boat,  and  other  signs,  that  hostile  strangers  had 
passed  towards  the  village  during  our  stay  in  the  cave. 
"We  wasted  no  time  in  our  overland  return,  I  can  assure 
you,  although  the  whole  way  was  over  hills  and  through 
pitiless  entanglements  of  jungle." 

"  While  you  were  so  nervous  for  us,  Richard,"  said 
the  wife,  looking  affectionately  at  her  husband,"  all  our 
own  anxiety  was  on  your  account." 

"  Of  that  I  have  not  the  least  doubt,  my  dear.  But 
I  hope  never  again  to  feel  so  painfully  what  it  is  to  be  a 
husband  and  a  father  !  With  myself,  only,  to  protect  on 
such  an  occasion,  I  might  not  have  been  much  dis 
mayed  at  an  obviously  foiled  attempt  to  surprise  the 
place,  by  wretches  to  whom  our  lofty  position  and  three 
good  guns  were  really  a  fortress  impregnable  for  direct 
assault ;  but,  as  it  was,  every  yell  from  the  river  shook 
my  courage,  and  I  did  the  good  villagers  the  injustice 
secretly  to  suspect  that  they  might  at  any  moment  fall 
upon  us  themselves.  It  is  natural,  if  not  generous,  I 
think,  for  us  to  suspect  everybody  as  robbers  when  par 
ticularly  prized  treasures  are  in  our  charge." 


508  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

This  concluding  commonplace  of  husbandly  politeness 
was,  of  course,  intended  to  be  no  more  than  that ;  yet 
the  Colonel  seized  upon  it  as  a  salient  statement  in  the 
ethics  of  guardianship. 

"  There  you  express  a  truth,  Mr.  Emngham,"  said  he, 
speaking  more  earnestly  than  before,  "  that  I  have  had 
reason  to  recognize  from  its  evidence  in  my  own  later 
feelings.  Both  yourself  and  Mrs.  Effingham  are  aware 
how  dear  my  boy  always  has  been  to  me  ;  but  only  in 
this  last  month,  since  the  goodness  of  fortune  has  made 
him  seem  even  more  to  me  like  a  son  in  our  close  com 
munity  of  material  interests,  have  I  come  to  understand 
how  much  one  may  suffer  from  that  jealous  suspicion  of 
all  the  world's  robber-proclivities  which  seems  to  be  a 
part  of  the  intensest  regard  we  can  feel  for  individuals. 
Coincident  with  my  happiness  in  being  able  at  last  to 
see  Edwin  restored  to  our  patrimonial  rights  by  my 
side,  and  while  I  was  feeling  all  a  veritable  father's 
pride  in  the  consummation,  came  yet  a  secret  distrust, 
and  sting,  with  the  sudden  fear  that  now  the  world 
would  want  to  rob  me  of  him  ! 

"  Oh,  my  good  friends,"  he  continued,  abruptly  low 
ering  his  voice,  but  with  increased  fervor  of  manner, 
"I  know  now  that  there  was  full  warrant  in  piteous 
human  nature  for  an  award  to  myself  that  my  inexpe 
rienced,  passionate  youth  thought  inhuman !  I  can 
understand,  I  can  sympathize  in  and  unspeakably  com 
passionate,  the  fierce  agony  of  a  devoted  parent,  at  an 
untried,  almost  unknown  stranger's  intervention  of 
assumed  superior  claim  between  herself  and  the  child 
whose  whole  life  had  been  her  own  fashioning,  her 
dearest  fruition,  her  cherished  source  of  every  tender 
hope  for  the  future." 

"  Do  you,  then,  indeed,  forgive  my  Mother,  Colonel 
Daryl?"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Emngham,  in  a  voice  and 


SEE  TELLS  ALL.  509 

with  an  air  which  caused  both  men  to  regard  her  sur- 
prisedly. 

"  More  than  that ; — I  justify  Mrs.  Dornton,  madame. 
In  her  jealous  mother-love  she  could  know  me  only  as  a 
would-be  audacious  robber  of  her  dearest  treasure ;  and 
at  her  first  challenge  I  fled.  My  pride  it  was  that  made 
me  thus  dastard  ;  and  it  is  pride  that  has  kept  me  un 
just  to  her  memory,  until  now,  when, — myself  feeling  as 
she  felt, — I  can  frankly  confess  that  I  was  the  sinner." 

The  scene  at  this  moment  was  dramatic.  An  efful 
gence  almost  equal  to  that  of  day  exhibited  the  three 
seated  figures  in  attitudes  of  varying  urgent  expectancy 
towards  each  other.  Daryl  sat  rigidly  erect,  his  segar 
lying  unheeded  at  his  feet  and  his  strongly-lined  face 
turned  waitingly  to  Mrs.  Efnngham.  She,  involuntarily 
clutching  her  fan  with  both  hands,  leaned  slightly  to 
wards  him,  in  an  obviously  rising  excitement  at  his 
words.  The  merchant,  holding  his  segar  forgotten  in 
mid-air,  watched  both  of  his  companions,  inquisitively, 
with  an  uneasy  intuition  of  a  crisis  he  could  not  divine. 
From  the  distant  forecastle  came  the  occasional  swell 
of  a  chorus ;  but  for  which  the  three  might  have 
seemed,  at  the  time,  to  be  the  sole  human  occupants  of 
the  great,  pallid  snowberg  of  a  ship.  Close  before  them 
arose  an  unrustling  pinnacle  of  grandly  curving  sails, 
and  behind  appeared  the  black  opening  of  the  cuddy 
hatchway,  like  the  mouth  of  a  tenantless  cave. 

"You  can  say,  sir,  from  your  heart,  that  you  have 
not  yet  a  lingering  harsh  thought  against  her  who  bade 
her  daughter  renounce  you,  in  bitterness  of  repentance, 
to  your  face,  and  in  her  presence  ?"  questioned  Mrs. 
Effingham  again,  in  a  hurried,  breathless  voice. 

"I  do  say  it— and  feel  it,"  responded  Colonel  Daryl, 
firmly.  "  Wisdom  has  been  given  me  to  see  that  my  in 
considerate  folly  deserved  all  its  punishment." 


510  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

Her  face  turned  as  pale  as  on  the  night  of  mortal 
dread  in  the  village,  but  attitude  and  tone  were  un 
changed  : 

"  Only  upon  such  assurance,  Colonel  Daryl,  could  I 
tell  you  what  you  shall  now  hear.  Not  even  to  you,  my 
Husband,  could  I  before  reveal  that  which  in  its  confes 
sion  might  seem  to  ask  my  own  vindication  at  the  price 
of  my  mother's  blame." 

"  Your  own  vindication,  Julia  ?"  echoed  Mr.  Effing- 
ham,  incredulously.  "  You  can  never  require  vindica 
tion  to  me  ;  and  whomsoever  else  may  deem  it  requisite 
shall  find  myself  sufficiently  answerable." 

She  placed  a  hand  upon  the  arm  of  his  chair,  at  once 
in  acknowledgment  and  deprecation  of  the  feeling  he 
had  expressed : 

"  Bear  patiently  with  me,  Kichard.  After  hearing 
what  I  may  now  tell  this  gentleman,  you  will  under 
stand  my  meaning  better. 

"Colonel  Daryl,"  she  continued,  once  more  address 
ing  the  Englishman,  who  watched  and  listened  with 
growing  amazement,  "  you  have  believed  that  my  sister 
Caroline,  at  our  mother's  command,  bade  you  leave  her, 
forever." 

He  bowed  constrainedly :  knowing  not  what  to  say. 

"  You  have  resentfully  blamed— you  have  generously 
excused — you  have  lovingly  forgiven — you  can  now  even 
justify  her— for  so  acting;  because  it  was  under  com 
pulsion  of  an  authority  that  you  finally  acknowledged 
to  have  been  higher  and  more  righteous  than  yours — 
though  you  were  her  husband." 

Another  inclination  of  the  head. 

"  My  sister  did  not  commit  that  act." 

"Great  Heaven,  madame !  what  can  you  mean?" 
cried  the  Colonel,  in  staring  astonishment. 

"  Remember  the  darkened  room  ;  the  tearful  face  that 


SHE  TELLS  ALL.  511 

never  turned  to  you  ;  the  sobbing  accents.     You  were 
deceived,  Colonel  Daryl. " 

"Impossible!    The  voice — the  dress — the  words—" 

"  Were  mine  ! — or,  rather,  the  dress,  alone,  was  Caro 
line's.  Resembling  my  poor,  distracted  sister  in  voice, 
in  form,  in  many  physical  attributes,  I  impersonated 
her ;  because — she  being  rebellious,  unconquerable, 
locked,  an  indomitable  prisoner,  in  her  room — our 
mother  implored  me— peremptorily  commanded  me — 
to  do  it." 

By  a  simultaneous  common  impulse  the  two  men 
looked  blankly  at  each  other  for  a  moment.  Daryl's 
face  lost  its  color,  and  his  hands  tightened  spasmodic 
ally  upon  the  arms  of  his  chair. 

"Madame!  *  .  .  I  am  confounded !"  But  in  the 
next  instant  his  countenance  flushed  and  radiantly 
lightened—"  I  thank  God  that  it  was  not  my  Wife  !" 

"Your  pride  was  spared  that  blow.  Caroline  was 
loyal  to  you  in  word,  as  indeed,  to  the  latest  hour  of  her 
short  life.  Although  you  heard  my  voice — alas  ! — and 
I  yours,  neither  of  us  saw  the  other's  face  in  that  un 
happy  meeting  at  Dornton  Manor.  I  saw  you  first  in 
Borneo,  scarcely  a  year  ago  ;  and  from  that  hour  have 
inwardly  prayed — I  cannot  describe  how  fervently  and 
humbly — that  God  would  so  permanently  soften  your 
heart  to  my  mother's  memory  that,  as  one  of  her  chil 
dren,  I  need  not  fear,  for  her  sake,  to  make  this  confes 
sion  to  you,  Colonel  Daryl.  You  said  that  you  forgave 
her,  when  I  knew  that  you  did  not.  But  tonight  I 
feel  assured,  at  last,  as  by  some  influence  even  other 
than  your  own  generous  words,  that  the  time  is  fitting 
for  the  only  expiation  in  the  power  of  a  Dornton  to 
ofler." 

Mr.  Eftingham  sat  silent ;  his  mind  in  conflict  between 
an  unselfish  wish  that  he  had  been  denied  the  hearing 


512  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

of  what  no  prerogative  of  his  should  ever  have  imposed 
the  pain  of  telling,  and  a  sympathy  with  both  wife  and 
friend  that  made  him  glad  to  be  tacitly  united  with  the 
one  in  a  reparation  due  to  the  other. 

"Madame,"  said  the  Colonel,  in  a  tone  of  the  pro- 
foundest  feeling,  "  you  have  extracted  the  last  drop  of 
bitterness  from  the  cup  that  I  prepared  for  myself." 

"You  thought,  that,  when  our  mother  asked  the 
kneeling  girl  before  you,  if  she  repented  her  great 
folly  ?  it  was  Caroline  who  replied  with  the  word  '  Bit 
terly  /' "  added  the  lady,  as  feelingly.  "When  I,  in 
her  likeness  to  your  eyes,  employed  that  meaning  term, 
its  application  in  my  own  agonizingly  reproachful 
thoughts  was  to  the  deed  of  deception  to  which  I  had 
suffered  myself  to  be  compelled,  though  not  yet  could 
I  be  aware  of  its  full  cruelty  to  Caroline  and  to  you. 
The  recollection  has  humbled  me  unspeakably  all 
through  my  life." 

"A  daughter's  filial  obedience,  to  save  an  inexperi 
enced  sister  from  what  all  worldly  wisdom  would  have 
joined  parental  judgment  in  esteeming  but  little  better 
than  the  throwing  of  her  whole  existence  away,  may 
bear  a  less  unsparing  verdict,  I  think,  my  dear,  than 
the  one  you  inflict  upon  yourself,"  said  Mr.  Eflingham, 
quietly. 

"  I  agree  with  you,  sir,  in  that  sentiment,  perfectly," 
the  Colonel  remarked,  with  a  quick  resumption  of  his 
easier,  cordial  air. — "But  look  yonder !"  he  continued,  a 
peculiar  smile  informing  lips  and  eyes  as  he  nodded  in 
the  direction  of  something  just  then  catching  his  obser 
vation  on  the  side  of  the  deck  opposite  from  where  they 
sat — "  there  is  the  best  solution  of  our  problem." 

Husband  and  wife  turned  their  heads  to  follow  his 
glance,  and  beheld  two  youthful  figures,  side  by  side,  in 
a  pause  of  a  walk  not  previously  verging  upon  the  re- 


EPILOGUE.  513 

tirement  of  their  seniors.  The  girl,  graceful  and  pic 
turesque,  was  pointing  animatedly  to  some  object  glanc 
ing  in  the  lustrous  waves — perhaps  a  silvery  albacore — 
and  the  young  sailor's  handsome  head  almost  touched 
her  shoulder  in  his  eager  promptness  to  assure  her  what 
it  was. 

Only  these  fairer  forms  of  expanding  life,  and  san 
guine  hope,  and  future  promise,  were  requisite,  to  take 
up  the  remaining  strands  of  a  story  first  webbed  in 
broken  hearts,  across  the  cold  Atlantic,  a  score  of  years 
before,  and  blend  them  into  a  romance  of  fairest  augury 
upon  the  warm  billows  of  the  Indian  Ocean. 


EPILOGUE. 

IN  one  of  the  prettiest  vallies  among  the  southern 
hills  of  the  State  of  Yermont,  nearly  midway  between 
the  fine  scenery  of  Bellows  Falls  and  the  sunny  Massa 
chusetts  line,  there  is  a  thrifty  railway  village,  with 
two  summer  hotels,  three  churches  and  a  newspaper. 
In  the  year  1851,  this  was  an  unbustling  and  cosily 
embowered  hamlet,  philosophically  satisfied  with  a  soli 
tary  quadrangular  white  wooden  house  of  worship,  and 
an  as  unpretentious  and  tidy  a  "public"  to  keep  in 
countenance  the  daily  omnibus  to  the  nearest  station 
for  trains.  But  even  this  latter  vehicular  enterprise 
indicated  that  the  place  was  not  wholly  without  human 
interest  for  the  outer  world ;  and,  indeed,  a  certain 
educational  "Young  Ladies'  Institute,"  whose  broad, 
snowy  front,  balconied  and  green-blinded,  gleamed  at 
tractively  through  the  noble  maples  of  an  overlooking 
hillside,  had  acquired  a  celebrity  of  which  the  hamlet 
was  not  a  little  vain. 


514  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

It  is  with  this  same  academic  nursery  of  the  budding 
mind  feminine  that  we  have  now  to  do,  as  it  appeared 
on  a  cloudless  June  afternoon  in  the  year  mentioned. 

A  tall,  bright-eyed  gentleman,  slightly  foreign  in 
dress,  arriving  alone  from  the  station  by  the  omnibus, 
made  some  general  inquiries  about  the  boarding-school, 
at  the  small  hotel, — how  long  did  the  summer  vacation 
last  ? — when  would  the  next  term  begin  ?  and  so  on — 
and  then :  having  secured  a  room  for  the  night,  and 
freshened  himself  from  the  dust  and  frowsiness  of  travel : 
proclaimed  his  purpose  of  walking  to  the  "  Institute  " 
for  a  call. 

By  a  neatly  kept  main  road,  bordered  with  rows  of 
fruit  trees  and  pleasant  fields  of  pasture,  he  took  his 
way,  as  instructed,  to  a  bisecting  narrower  one,  leading 
up,  between  hedges,  by  comfortably  undulating  ascent, 
to  a  wide  iron  gate,  set  in  a  substantial  stone  wall  that 
ended  the  thoroughfare.  Seeing  no  bell-pull,  nor  por 
ter's  lodge,  the  stranger  confidently  admitted  himself 
through  the  unfastened  gate  to  the  smoothly  graveled 
carriage-road  within,  and  traversed  a  gently  rising 
stretch  of  flanking  lawn  and  brilliant  flower-beds,  until 
it  led  him  finally  into  the  grateful  shade  of  the  patri 
archal  maples,  through  which  he  had  seen  the  face  of 
the  building  from  below. 

Pausing  a  moment  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  leading  to 
the  lower  balcony  and  principal  entrance,  he  first  sur 
veyed  the  expanse  of  deserted  piazza  and  closed  blind- 
shutters  before  him,  and  then,  turning,  was  impressed 
by  the  solitude  of  the  outspreading  garden-walks  and 
arbors  of  the  ample  private  grounds  of  the  house.  A 
dog  in  a  sunny  clover  field  some  distance  away  was  the 
only  animated  object  visible,  for  the  instant,  in  the 
whole  gilded  landscape  ;  and  at  that  redeeming  quadru 
ped  the  visitor,  after  a  hasty  precautionary  glance 


EPILOGUE.  515 

around,  could  not  refrain  from  hurling,  vigorously,  the 
nearest  convenient  pebble. 

The  missile  was  not  really  intended  to  strike  any  ob 
ject;  its  propulsion  having  resulted  merely  from  the 
irrepressible  buoyant  impulse  of  a  human  organization 
of  peculiar  liveliness  ;  and  when  the  clover-nosing  dog 
apparently  failed  to  realize  that  anything  had  been 
thrown  in  his  direction  at  all,  the  covert  thrower  dusted 
his  hands  upon  his  handkerehief  with  a  subdued  laugh, 
and  forthwith  addressed  himself  to  the  door  and  bell 
of  the  soundless  "  Institute." 

A  pair  of  eyes  behind  the  bowed  blinds  of  an  unno 
ticed  window  had  witnessed  the  performance  with  the 
pebble,  and  their  owner's  rather  indignant  surprise 
thereat  underwent  a  swift  change  to  another  order  of 
astonishment  when,  next,  they  remarked  the  face  of  the 
visitor  coming  up  the  piazza. — 

"  As  sure  as  this  world —  !" 

There  were  voices  in  the  broad  hall,  as  of  some  one 
amazedly  recognizing  some  one  else,  and  that  some  one 
else  cheerfully  confessing  the  identity. — 

"  And  so  you  're  up  here,  too,  Ambrose,  are  you  ?  I 
wasn't  aware  that  they  had  Darkey tecture  on  the  list  of 
studies  for  the  fair  sex." 

"  Now  go  'way,  Mr.  Dodge  ;  that 's  just  like  you,  sir ! 
I  'm  more  accustomed  to  the  country  than  the  city, 
and  when  the  family  moved  into  the  town-house  from 
the  Manor,  last  Fall,  they  let  me  come  up  here,  sir,  to 
reg'late  a  bit  of  gardening  for  the  lady." 

In  another  moment  the  smiling  negro  was  presenting 
a  card  to  his  mistress,  in  the  cosey  and  shady  little  re 
ception-room  of  the  establishment  that  she  had  con 
verted,  temporarily,  into  a  collector's  office  for  the  cooler 
"making  out"  of  bills  for  the  parents  of  her  absent 
scholars. 


516  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

"Do  allow  me  to  come  in,  with  the  privilege  of  an  old 
friend,"  pleaded  the  unceremonious  visitor,  appearing 
in  the  doorway. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Dodge !  can  it  be  you  ?"  exclaimed  Miss 
Ankeroo,  advancing  from  behind  the  busy-looking  desk 
drawn  near  the  blinded  window.  "  Well,  this  is  truly 
a  surprise !" 

"  It  wasn't  in  me  to  make  it  more  gradual— I  wanted 
to  see  you  so  much  !"  apologized  the  gentleman,  shak 
ing  hands  tempestuously ;  and,  after  a  few  farther 
amenities,  lady  and  guest  took  chairs  for  more  original 
conversation. 

"Upon  my  word,  you're  quite  imposing  in  your 
grandeur  here,  Miss  Ankeroo,"  observed  Mr.  Dodge  ; 
thinking  less,  however,  of  the  stately  spaciousness  of 
the  "Institute,"  than  of  the  freshly  blooming  retro 
gression  to  youth  that  the  accomplished  "  Lady  Princi 
pal"  seemed  to  have  made  since  their  last  interview. 
"Mr.  Emngham,  whom  I  met  in  New  York  on  the  day 
of  my  arrival, — yesterday,  by  the  way,— informed  me 
of  your  professional  engagement  and  address,  and  I 
took  the  liberty  of  making  haste  to  catch  you  before 
you  should  be  taking  your  own  vacation.  At  the 
hotel  below  they  told  me  that  term-time  was  over 
with  you  until  September,  and  that  I  might  not  find 
you  visible  for  callers.  Of  course  it  would  have  been 
the  regular  thing  for  me  to  forward  my  card  first, 
and  wait  for  an  invitation  to  follow  ',  but  you  see  I 
didn't  doit." 

"  Nor  was  it  necessary,  after  the  compliment  of  think 
ing  of  me  so  soon, "  laughed.the  school-mistress,  thinking, 
in  her  turn,  that  a  tuft  of  auburn  hair  upon  his  chin 
rather  improved  the  traveler's  looks.  "You  certainly 
would  not  have  found  me  here  one  day  later,  as  I  shall 
go  to  New  York  tomorrow." 


EPILOGUE.  517 

"That  is  to  be  the  date  of  my  own  return.  You'll 
honor  me  as  your  escort  V" 

"Oh,  thank  you,  that  will  be  pleasant.— But  do  ex 
cuse  me,  Mr.  Dodge,  if  I  allow  the  celebrated  curiosity 
of  my  sex  to  have  its  way  at  once.  Have  there  been 
any  particular  changes  at  Singapore,  or  in  Sarawak, 
since  we  were  all  there  ?" 

' '  You  wouldn't  know  Kuchin,  again, ' '  he  replied,  com 
placently  ;  "it's  growing  like  a  clump  of  bamboos. 
They  've  actually  got  roads  and  a  few  horses  there,  now. 
That  is,  there  's  a  quite  civilized  bridle-path,  as  you 
might  call  it,  made  by  laying  down  trunks  of  trees  side 
by  side,  from  the  town  to  the  Rajah's  opium  farm,  seven 
or  eight  miles  along  the  river.  Then  there  's  a  church, 
too,  at  last,  for  a  Scotch  missionary — Mr.  McDougal ; 
and  quite  a  body  of  European  society.  I  've  got  a  little 
new  hotel  myself  there— sort  of  provincial  branch,  you 
know,  of  'The  Straits'— and  Merton  and  Yon  Camp 
and  I  are  speculating  together,  modestly,  in  antimony 
and  nutmegs." 

"A  missionary  there,  you  say  ?"  sighed  the  lady. 

" — And  his  wife.  Very  nice  people  they  are,  too, 
with  a  large  congregation  on  the  week-day  evenings, 
when  they  give  magic  lantern  exhibitions  of  scenes  in 
the  Holy  Land  and  Paris. — I  've  not  yet  told  you, 
though,"  continued  Mr.  Dodge,  in  a  lighter  tone,  "that 
I  went  from  Singapore  to  London  before  coming  back 
home,  and  had  Colonel  Daryl  for  a  fellow-passenger 
with  me  from  Liverpool." 

"Indeed!  Then  the  Colonel  is  now  in  New 
York?" 

"Yes;  for  the  first  time,  he  tells  me,  since  he  and 
his  nephew  crossed  for  Belmore's  marriage  with  Miss 
Effingham.  I  wouldn't  wish  for  better  company  than 
the  fine  old  fellow  is  in  these  days  ;  and  it 's  a  complete 


518  THERE  WAS  ONGE  A  MAN. 

course  in  high-toned  gentility  to  hear  him  mention  'my 
Sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Effingham.' ' 

"  Did  you  see  anything  of  the  Belmores  ?" 

"When  I  reached  London,  early  last  month,  they 
had  just  come  in  to  their  house  in  the  city  from  their 
place  in  Surrey,  and  as  I  'd  sent  my  card  to  them  in  the 
country  it  was  a  few  days  before  they  found  me  out. 
Then  Belmore  called  at  my  hotel,  ami  took  me  to  see 
the  wife  and  two  little  ones.  I  doubt  if  there  's  another 
woman  in  London  as  handsome  as  our  former  Miss 
Abretta ;  and  I  'm  sure  that  her  husband  feels  no  un 
certainty  on  that  point  at  all.  As  for  the  Colonel,  he 
plainly  regards  the  pair  as  the  connubial  paragons  of 
the  age,  and  only  objects  to  their  system  of  visiting  the 
United  States  every  second  year.  But,  you  see,  he  's 
here,  himself,  now." 

"And  that  eccentric  Doctor  Hedland?"  queried 
Miss  Ankeroo,  smiling. 

"  Oh,  after  visiting  a  brother  of  his  who  is  a  kind  of 
Mogul  'amongst  the  heathen  of  Lombok,  the  Doctor 
left  the  Archipelago  at  last  for  England  ;  where  he  has 
a  fine  estate  on  the  Thames,  near  a  place  called  Ditton, 
and  wages  bitter  war  on  the  vivisectionists.  His  last 
idea  seems  to  be,  that  the  brutes  are  all  merely  so 
many  physical  degeneracies  of  human  nature." 

"  How  perfectly  ridiculous  !" 

"I must  say  that  I  prefer  it,  myself,  to  his  earlier 
theory  about  monkeys,"  intimated  Mr.  Dodge,  whose 
knowledge  of  what,  exactly,  that  theory  had  been,  was 
not  of  the  clearest.  "  The  Doctor  was  giving  a  great 
dinner  to  Kajah  Brooke  on  the  day  when  the  Colonel 
and  I  left  London." 

"  So  the  Eajah  of  Sarawak  is  now  in  England,  too," 
said  the  fair  school-mistress,  with  renewed  interest. 

"He  and  I  were  fellow-travelers  from  Singapore  by 


EPILOGUE.  519 

the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  route.  I  could  have  cut 
quite  a  figure  amongst  the  cockneys  on  the  strength  of 
such  illustrious  companionship." 

"Have  his  countrymen  learned  to  appreciate  him 
justly,  yet,  do  you  think  ?" 

Mr.  Dodge  fingered  the  tuft  upon  his  chin  reflectively, 
and  assumed  an  expressiou  of  grave  cogitation. 

"All  the  boring  that  a  great  celebrity,  in  his  most 
suicidal  moments,  could  expect,  is  certainly  his ;  he 
is  dined,  and  speeched  over,  and  stared  at,  whichever 
way  he  turns ;  but  you  hear  a  number  of  people  de 
nouncing  him,  right  and  left,  in  private,  for  what  they 
call  his  'inhumanities'  in  his  last  battle  with  the 
Sarebas  pirates,  two  years  ago  ;  and  a  member  named 
Hume  persecutes  him  relentlessly  in  Parliament." 

"Was  it  true,  as  we  have  heard,  that  eight  hundred 
lives  were  lost  in  the  battle  of  Kaluka  River  ?"  asked 
Miss  Ankeroo. 

"  The  bill  of  mortality  was  undoubtedly  large  enough 
to  cast  a  gloom  over  the  whole  piratical  community," 
confessed  the  colloquial  historian.  "  Warmed  to  an  un 
comfortable  excess  by  the  fire  of  Captain  Farquhar's 
frigate,  Nemesis,  the  yellow  gentlemen,  who  were  more 
accustomed  to  the  cooler  experience  of  surprising 
peaceful  merchantmen  by  night,  made  the  mistake  of 
retreating  from  their  prahus  to  a  tongue  of  land  between 
two  rivers.  There  the  Kajah's  Dyak  land-force  treated 
them  to  a  native  head-hunting  festival,  they  say,  and  it 
may  be  that  somebody  was  hurt." 

"Don't  speak  lightly  of  such  horrors  !"  admonished 
his  feminine  auditor. 

"  I  'd  drop  a  tear  for  the  lamented  pirates  if  I  could, 
Miss  Ankeroo ;  but  that  particular  tap  in  my  nature 
became  suddenly  dry  before  I'd  been  in  the  Indies 
a  week.  Why,  just  look  at  the  facts  of  the  case,  my 


520  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

dear  friend :  When  the  Kajah  came  back  from  his 
English  visit  of  1847,  a  knight  of  the  Bath  ;  Governor 
of  the  island  of  Labuan,  just  off  Bruni,  and  British 
Commissioner  and  Consul  General  to  Borneo  ;  those  old 
villains,  the  pirate  Shereefs  of  the  Sarebas  and  Sakarran 
dens,  began  a  renewal  of  all  their  former  atrocities 
upon  unarmed  vessels  and  sleeping  villages  ;  fancying 
that  Tuan  Besar's  forbearance  after  the  massacre  of  his 
friends  at  Bruni  meant  that  he  was  cowed  at  last.  Sir 
James,  being  then  a  British  Governor  no  less  than  a 
Kajah,  had  no  choice  but  to  use  the  whole  available 
power  of  his  country  to  chastise,  finally,  and  for  all, 
such  pitiless  plunderers  and  assassins  ;  and  he  and  Far- 
quhar  did  make  thorough  work  of  it." 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  such  explanation  of  a  matter 
known  to  us  in  this  country  only  through  prejudiced 
English  representations,"  remarked  the  spinster,  ener 
getically.  "I  couldn't  bear  to  think  of  such  a  man 
becoming  selfishly  ambitious  at  last." 

"  Selfishly  ambitious  !"  echoed  Felix  Dodge,  raising 
his  eyebrows.  "I  went  up  to  Labuan  from  Kuchin, 
while  I  was  building  my  new  hotel,  and  there  I  found 
your  victim  of  ambition  magnificently  flaunting  a  con 
queror's  princely  estate  in  a  cottage  of  three  rooms 
amongst  the  camphor  trees  ;  the  royal  reception  cham 
ber  being  about  sixteen  feet  square.  In  his  sumptuous 
stables  was  one  half- Arab  pony,  and  the  gubernatorial 
army  and  navy  consisted  of  ten  native  constables  and 
three  canoes.  This  imposing  pomp  has  so  overawed 
the  formerly  troublesome  Makota,  who  is  now  prime 
minister  to  a  new  Sultan  of  Borneo,  that  he  meekly 
avows  himself  to  be  a  stanch  friend  of  Tuan  Besar  and 
the  English." 

"Then  who  represents  the  Eajah  at  4The  Grove' 
now  ?" 


EPILOGUE.  521 

"  His  nephew  from  England,  Brooke  Johnson  Brooke. 
And  a  Datu  of  the  Dyaks,  Pa  Jenna,  commands  the 
native  troops  for  Sir  James  there."* 

The  conversation,  having  thus  yielded  the  foreign 
news  most  interesting  to  Miss  Ankeroo,  was  amiably 
allowed  by  the  latter  to  drift  into  a  vein  of  personal 
confidence.  She  explained,  that,  after  the  marriage 
and  departure  of  Abretta  Effingham,  and  the  placing  of 
Master  Cherubino  under  masculine  tutorship  for  college, 
her  active  spirit  would  not  suffer  her  to  remain  a  mere 
social  passivity  in  her  cousin's  household ;  and,  ac 
cordingly,  upon  hearing  that  a  large  building  erected  as 
a  summer  boarding-house  amongst  the  hills  of  her  native 
State  of  Vermont  was  not  to  be  occupied,  after  all,  in  that 
capacity,  and  might  be  very  favorably  rented,  she  had 
conceived  the  idea  of  her  u  Young  Ladies'  Institute." 
So  successful  proved  the  undertaking,  that  she  and  her 
staff  now  had  nearly  a  hundred  pupils.  In  vacation 
time  she  rejoined  her  friends  in  New  York,  and  accom 
panied  them  to  the  .seaside  and  the  Springs. 

Mr.  Dodge  wras  also  confidential.  Fortune  had  been 
so  propitious  to  him,  that  he  proposed  to  remain  only 
one  year  longer  in  the  East  Indies,  and  then  return,  for 
permanence,  to  the  United  States.  Upon  taking  leave, 
to  go  back  to  the  hotel,  with  the  understanding  that  it 
should  be  his  inestimable  privilege  to  escort  the  lady  to 
the  city  on  the  following  day,  he  also  confessed  that  he 
found  it  an  extremely  miserable  thing  for  a  man  to  be 
alone  in  the  world,  and  wished  that  some  phenomenally 


*  The  remaining  career  of  the  last  and  noblest  of  the  English  Cru 
saders  may  be  summed  in  a  few  words.  After  subduing  a  Chinese  in 
surrection  in  Sarawak,  in  1857,  incidental  to  England's  war  with  China 
in  that  year,  Sir  James  Brooke  revisited  Devonshire  for  a  few  months. 
Ten  years  later  his  shattered  health  compelled  Mm -once  more  to  seek  his 
native  land,  where  he  died,  June  11,  1868. 


523  THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  MAN. 

unselfish  ornament  of  her  sex  would  take  compassion 
on  him. 

To  which  replied  the  Lady  Principal;  her  color 
heightening  beautifully  ;  that  her  friend  would,  undoubt 
edly,  find  some  good  woman,  some  day,  to  appreciate 
adequately  his  eminent  worthiness  of  her  life-compan 
ionship,  and  that  he  and  she  would  thereupon  become 
blessings  to  each  other. 

"But  I  'm  a  style  of  blessing  that  is  rapidly  descend 
ing  into  the  vale  of  years,  you  see,"  urged  he,  pathetic 
ally  ;  lingering  beside  her  on  the  woodbine-hung  piazza. 
"It's  dangerous  to  delay  that  kind  of  business  when 
people  are  as  far  advanced  in  life  as  I  and — and — other 
gentlemen  of  the  same  age.  Blessings  frighten  as  they 
take  their  blight,  you  know." 

Miss  Ankeroo  observed,  in  a  general  way,  that  the 
train  she  expected  to  take  on  the  morrow  would  start 
at  ten  o'clock,  and  shook  hands  with  no  greater  appar 
ent  sign  of  sentimental  effusion ;  but  when,  on  his 
returning  way  to  the  village  hostelry,  Mr.  Dodge 
brilliantly  achieved  the  athletic  feat  familiarly  known 
as  "leap-frog"  upon  a  substantial  fragment  of  rock 
marking  the  corner  of  two  roads,  an  observer  aware 
of  his  idiosyncracies  might  reasonably  have  inferred 
therefrom,  that,  for  some  recent  special  reason,  he  was 
feeling  "first-rate." 


AUTHORS    NOTE. 


SUCH  titles  of  classification  as  Kovel,  Romance,  Tale 
and  Story  have  no  essential  difference  of  meaning  to 
the  popular  apprehension,  and  even  seern  to  commend 
themselves  to  some  writers  of  imaginative  works  as 
practically  convertible  terms.  It  is  of  no  account  to 
the  ordinary  reader  of  an  entertaining  literary  narra 
tive  whether  it  is  called  by  one  or  another  of  these 
names.  Many  a  clever  man,  or  woman,  of  letters 
makes  choice  from  them  for  a  title-page  merely  as  im 
mediate  fancy,  or,  perhaps,  euphonic  preference,  may 
indicate  the  selection. 

It  is  not  intended  here  to  argue  against  the  usage  as 
commonly  followed ;  and  there  need  be  no  pretense  of 
invidious  philological  criticism  in  the  assertion  that, 
where  an  author  in  the  implied  category  feels  that  a 
particular  form  of  artistic  presentment  is  imposed  upon 
his  work  by  anything  peculiar  in  the  nature  of  its  ma 
terials,  he  finds  himself  at  least  instinctively  impressed 
with  a  vivid  sense  of  very  important  differences  between 
the  methods  of  composition  represented  by  the  above 
different  terms.  For  instance,  without  recalling  the 
special  literary  personalities  involved,  he  realizes  that 
the  best  average  discriminating  custom  has  dictated, 
distinctively,  for  the  "Novel"  a  predominance  of  Char 
acter  over  Incident;  for  the  " Romance,"  a  predomi 
nance  of  Incident  over  Character;  for  the  "Tale,"  an 
absolutely  unbroken  continuity  of  narrative,  be  it  Nov- 
elistic  or  Romantic,  so  as  to  be  practically  but  one 
chapter,  however  subdivided  for  convenience  of  read- 
533 


524  A  UTHOtf  S  NOTE. 

ing;  and  for  the  "Story,"  as  much  assimilation  to  all 
three  of  the  foregoing  types  as  may  be  consistent  with 
a  certain  steady  implication  of  Fact,  and  a  judicious 
regard  for  current  approved  forms  of  sustained  nar 
rative. 

A  Novel,  like  a  finely-wrought  light  Comedy,  may 
succeed  with  but  the  slightest  thread  of  social  plot ;  a 
Romance  requires  ingenuity  and  depth  of  plot  propor 
tionate  to  the  variety  and  dramatic  boldness  of  its 
action;  a  Tale  may  either  replace  definite  plot  with 
picturesqueness  of  scene  and  episode,  or  employ  it 
gracefully  in  the  development  of  poetic  sentiment ;  a 
Story  pleases  the  imagination  according  to  whatsoever 
aids  it  may  safely  borrow  from  all  the  methods  of  Fic 
tion — whether  of  plot,  or  characterization,  or  incident, 
or  casual  idealization — without  serious  prejudice  to  its 
assumption  of  a  motive  in  Facts. 

The  present  book  is  classified  as  a  Story  for  reasons 
of  which  the  following  are  the  two  principal  ones  : 

First — because  it  deals  with  real  characters  and  inci 
dents  of  fact  not  to  be  either  judiciously  or  artistically 
subjected  too  freely  to  the  liberties  of  purely  fanciful 
Fiction:  and — 

Second— because  its  chief  intellectual  motive  is  the 
demonstration  of  a  philosophical  idea  requiring  the 
boldest  possible  appeal  to  the  imaginative  faculties  for 
its  illustration. 

As  the  most  prosaic  record  of  veritable  personal  ex 
periences  is  commonly  denominated  a  "  Story,"  so  the 
other  extreme  of  narrative — that  which  taxes  most 
severely  the  fancy  of  child  or  man — goes  by  the  same 
name,  as  Fairy-" Story,"  or  Ghost- "Story."  And  it 
may  be  added,  that  if  the  story  of  fairy,  or  of  ghost, 
had  not  for  the  instinctive  credulity  of  infancy,  or  of 
maturity,  a  certain  implied  insistence  of  truth,  it  would 


AUTHORS  NOTE.  525 

have  very  little  attraction  for  either  childhood  or  man 
hood. 

Thus,  in  choosing  to  call  this  book  a  Story,  the  au 
thor  understands  himself  at  once  to  be  under  pledge  of 
abstinence  from  every  such  imaginative  idealization  of 
real  character  and  historic  incident  as  he  should  have 
deemed  his  artistic  privilege  of  calling  his  work  either 
Novel,  or  Komance,  and  at  full  liberty  to  exercise  his 
own  literary  discretion  outside  of  that  restriction.' 

The  result  of  this  system  of  composition  is  to  be 
seen  particularly  in  the  pages  given  to  the  not  yet 
justly  appreciated  Sir  James  Brooke  and  his  remark 
able  career  as  a  Eajah  of  Borneo.  Without  assuming 
to  be  a  comprehensive  historical  study,  the  sketch  of 
this  thoroughly  great  man,  and  of  the  characters  and 
scenes  incident  to  his  princely  sway  in  its  most  critical 
year,  is  as  scrupulously  true  to  the  facts  of  history  as 
the  soberest  record  of  its  plainest  verities  could  be 
made.  "Whatever  imperfections  there  may  be  in  the 
picture  they  are  not  on  the  side  of  exaggeration,  nor 
adulterated  with  a  romancer's  inventions.  Fame  has 
not  been  half  fair  to  this  noble  Englishman,  whose 
always  outspoken  pleasure  in  the  prompt  recognition  of 
his  high,  humane  purposes  by  the  United  States,  makes 
his  familiar  introduction  in  a  narrative  of  American 
adventure  a  strain  upon  none  of  the  proprieties  of  his 
toric  sentiment. 

It  has  been  fairly  a  literary  embarrassment  that,  in 
the  story  of  social  complication  and  travel,  upon  the 
immediate  texture  of  which  the  Borneon  episodes  are 
etched  rather  than  incorporatively  woven,  actualities 
of  person  and  experience  have  necessarily  been  a  bar  to 
such  optional  accessories  of  romantic,  or  dramatic,  in 
terest  as  might  have  been  eifectively  employed  in  a 
work  of  wholly  fictitious  construction.  For  example, 


526  A  UTHOR  8  NOTE. 

humorous  invention  and  device  could  be  but  sparingly 
indulged  in  such  critical  relation,  and  the  light  to  relieve 
the  shade  had  to  be  evolved  only  from  the  less  sombre 
realisms  of  compulsorily  realistic  factors. 

There  remains  yet,  however,  an  element  of  the  work, 
that  not  only  permitted  but  exacted  a  free  draft  upon 
all  the  legitimate  resources  of  literary  art  for  its  suc 
cessful  treatment.  While  no  pains  have  been  counted 
in  the  effort  to  handle  dexterously  and  consistently  the 
difficult  problem  involved,  and  to  make  it  at  once  logic 
ally  acceptable  and  imaginatively  suggestive,  it  is  left 
for  the  reader  to  decide  whether  or  not  the  execution 
has  proved  equal  to  the  intention.  Upon  the  average 
intelligent  decision  of  this  point  both  the  popular  and 
literary  fortunes  of  the  story  must  chiefly  depend,  and 
the  author  presumes  not  to  anticipate  it. 

That  the  Christian  hero  and  the  materialistic  phi 
losopher,  representing,  respectively,  widely  divergent 
types  of  mental  honesty,  are  intended  as  intellectual 
foils  to  each  other  ;  that  the  philosopher's  idiosyncrasies 
are  designed  to  exemplify  the  genius  of  a  strong  mind 
whose  spiritual  and  imaginative  properties  have  been 
left  wholly  uncultivated,  and  whose  lack  of  humorous 
perception  amounts  to  an  obstinate  obliquity  of  mental 
vision ;  and  that  the  salient  illustration  of  the  social 
romance  is  of  that  chronic  irritability  between  English 
men  and  Americans  which  is  but  too  likely  to  produce 
bitter  international  fruit  some  day — might  be  left,  per 
haps,  to  the  unprompted  discovery  of  the  reader.  It 
may  not  be  superfluous,  however,  to  suggest  to  the 
hasty  critic,  that,  in  forming  his  judgment  of  the  rela 
tive  proportions  observed  in  the  development  of  the 
various  characters  prominently  introduced,  he  should 
be  just  enough  to  take  some  pains  in  discerning  which 
.  are  the  real  hero  and  heroine  of  the  story. 


NEW  BOOKS. 


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Tribune. 

u  One  of  the  most  notable  novels  of  the 
year.  ...  A  strong  virile  book,  sure 
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most  of  the  novels  of  the  day  are  forgot- 


u  Reveals,  as  few  novels  have  done  in  the 
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A  book  of  immense  fire  and  strength.— 
Boston  Gazette. 


"  Likely  to  receive  a  good  deal  more  than 
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novels  receive  vjry  little  attention.  It  is 


ten  "—Providence  Press. 

u  A  noble  story,  written  brilliantly,  ana 
of  undeniable  originality  and  power.'  — 
Louisville  Courier-Journal. 


Housekeeping  and  Cooking,"  etc. 


"Gives  a  most  interesting  account  of 
the  l  Jerry  McAul;y  Mission*  in  the  Five 
Po  nts  of  New  York,  including  many  thrill 
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ters  of  clear,  practical  advice  about  real 
methods  of  helping  the  poor  of  our  great 
citie;  to  rise  in  their  scale  of  living, 
especially  in  matters  of  Diet, in  its  rela 
tion  to  Drunkenness  and  Disease.  Ihe 
baok  is  both  attractive,  interesting,  and  c 
marked  value  in  its  unpretending  contri- 


Cloth.     90  

bution  to  the  work  of  cleansing  the  sources 
from  which  come  the  great  volume  of  our\ 
criminals-and  our  Voters."— .S*«  Fran* 

cisco  Alta-Califorma. 

"  Earnest,  interesting,  and  sensible."— 
Boston  Globe. 

"  Has  the  charm  which  comes  from  the 
relation  of  an  unusual  individual  ex- 
perience."— Philadelphia  American. 


Interior. 

'•  Like  fair  fruit,  leaves  a  pi  asant  taste 
in  the  mouth  "—Providence  Press: 

"A    charming    unpretentious  romance. 


marked  value  in  its  unprete 

Miss  LEIGHTON'S  PERPLEXITIES.     A  Love  Story.     By  Auo| 
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"A    very    charming    story."-  Chicago        '.^^^^^^^^^^\ 

very  slender  one  at  the  opening,. broadens 
and  grows  intricate  as  the  narrative  grows 
on,  until  at  last  the  k  perplexities'  present 
themselves. ' '—Cincinnati  Gazette. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  AND   HULBERT, 

tf  %  27  Park  Place,  New  York. 


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